Urban Lexicons is a series of investigations carried out over the last twelve years between Marcus Willcocks, Central Saint Martins (London) and Rosanna Vitiello. The project explores how we build relationships through the ways in which the city speaks to us and our response as its participants.

The project links culture to expression, meanings and shared values. Centred on the reading of public spaces, it fosters fluency of language and confidence. It therefore works with cultural communities and under-represented voices in public spaces and seeks a way to bring visibility to their points of view on an urban setting. The goal is to guarantee that the spaces these communities live in represent and support a wider variety of cultures.

It uses an open-code approach to offer physical and digital tools to city residents and research professionals for capturing and communicating the meaning of spaces valued by people.

Urban Lexicons is now extending to a practice community with Diana Ibáñez López and includes a cohort of students studying for a master’s degree in cities at Central Saint Martins and community groups from the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.