Winner of the 2008 Landscape Institute President’s Award, the East London Green Grid is a network of multi-functional and high quality open spaces that connect with town centres, public transport hubs, the Thames and major employment and residential areas.

Government body Design for London came up with the scheme, launched in November 2007, to ensure that the regeneration of East London delivers sustainable communities that lead to an improved quality of life for its residents long after the 2012 Games. It divides east London into six Green Grids for which each has its own plan. Partners in the project include the East London boroughs, Thames Gateway London Partnership, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

The East London Green Grid uses natural systems to shape and support growth. Importantly, it proposes a richly varied landscape and better connections between the areas where people live and work, public transport, the Green Belt and the Thames. It will also help East London’s communities adapt to the challenges of climate change. The approach is potentially transferable to many different places at different scales and of wide ranging character.

Landscape thinking is embedded throughout and is linked to a wide range of stakeholder interests and activities. There is an unbroken golden thread from vision to area frameworks and projects. The East London Green Grid is very clear in explaining how the area strategies can be implemented and who will be making the decisions: the report can be read and understood by a broad audience. Sense of place is expressed in the area frameworks, which tackle head-on the ways in which so many of East London’s green spaces merit investment and transformation.