︎︎︎R-Urban Poplar is an ecology hub on the edge of the Teviot estate, in Poplar, London.
Since 2017 we have transformed a disused car park and vacant garages into a thriving community, nature and work space. We offer an accessible model of environmental education through a programme of free events and workshops, and we prototype innovative circular systems including anaerobic digestion and small-scale urban farming.
Our site includes:
- Allotments for local families
- Communal food growing spaces
- A community kitchen and classroom
- A fabrication workshop and tool library
- 6 workspaces for local organisations working in social and environmental justice
- A small commercial mushroom farm
- An anaerobic digester for processing food waste
- A community sauna, powered by gas from the anaerobic digester (watch this space!)
- Wildlife habitats and wild spaces
R-Urban collaborators
R-Urban is a collaborative project, involving multiple partners collectively working towards the project goals.
public works is a not-for-profit critical design practice working across architecture, art and performance.
MAD Leap develop prototype systems for food waste recycling and circular food growing. Their work at R-Urban includes anaerobic digestion, composting, horticulture green skills training and a mushroom farm.
Little Forest Owl (aka Katrina Wright) is a horticulturist passionate about sustainable food growing, community gardening, and helping others reconnect with nature.
SunnyJar run workshops which make low waste, sustainable living accessible for all.
Zareen Islam is a youth worker, play worker and art facilitator who advocates for unstructured play using recycled and reinvented materials in creative ways.
London Wild Fruits specialises in urban foraging and wild food courses and workshops.
The Teviot People’s Kitchen is a co-operative working around food practices at R-Urban and beyond.
Community Sauna Baths is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to make sauna and cold plunge affordable and accessible to Londonders.
Billy Adams is a freelance designer and maker who works with community groups across London.
R-Urban is a collaborative project, involving multiple partners collectively working towards the project goals.
public works is a not-for-profit critical design practice working across architecture, art and performance.
MAD Leap develop prototype systems for food waste recycling and circular food growing. Their work at R-Urban includes anaerobic digestion, composting, horticulture green skills training and a mushroom farm.
Little Forest Owl (aka Katrina Wright) is a horticulturist passionate about sustainable food growing, community gardening, and helping others reconnect with nature.
SunnyJar run workshops which make low waste, sustainable living accessible for all.
Zareen Islam is a youth worker, play worker and art facilitator who advocates for unstructured play using recycled and reinvented materials in creative ways.
London Wild Fruits specialises in urban foraging and wild food courses and workshops.
The Teviot People’s Kitchen is a co-operative working around food practices at R-Urban and beyond.
Community Sauna Baths is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to make sauna and cold plunge affordable and accessible to Londonders.
Billy Adams is a freelance designer and maker who works with community groups across London.
some of the R-Urban family in 2025
A Short History
R-Urban is a bottom-up strategy that supports the emergence of more collaborative and resilient models of living, producing, and consuming in the city. It was started by atelier d'architecture autogérée (Paris) and public works (London).
R-Urban Wick was a mobile eco-civic hub, exploring local resilience in Hackney Wick before setting up a temporary recycling/re-use hub at the Mobile City Garden.
In 2017, when the temporary use site in Hackney Wick was lost, we relocated our container infrastructure to Poplar. Since then, the project has grown incrementally and in response to emerging local needs of Teviot and the neighbourhood.
R-Urban Network
R-Urban Poplar is part of a European network of hubs, to date there have been seven hubs in Paris, two in London and one in Romania.
R-Urban is an award-winning project including the Zumtobel Group Award and the Curry Stone Design Prize and the New European Bauhaus award.
R-Urban Poplar is part of a European network of hubs, to date there have been seven hubs in Paris, two in London and one in Romania.
R-Urban is an award-winning project including the Zumtobel Group Award and the Curry Stone Design Prize and the New European Bauhaus award.
We work with
Wen (the Women’s Environmental Network) work in East London and nationally to support women and grass-root movements aiming at environmental justice. We work with Wen on the JustFACT (Just Food and Climate Transition) project.
Leaders in Community is a youth-led charity run by a group of active local young people from Tower Hamlets. LiC run the Teviot Centre, where we help to manage the garden through a public workshop programme.
Spotlight run Youth Centres across East London, including our local centre in Langdon Park. We have run a number of workshops with Spotlight including planter building, seat making and furniture designing.
Making for Change is a fully-equipped workshop that produces to an industry standard across a wide range of products including daywear, accessories and homeware. Together, we were part of the UAL Climate Studio project.
Wen (the Women’s Environmental Network) work in East London and nationally to support women and grass-root movements aiming at environmental justice. We work with Wen on the JustFACT (Just Food and Climate Transition) project.
Leaders in Community is a youth-led charity run by a group of active local young people from Tower Hamlets. LiC run the Teviot Centre, where we help to manage the garden through a public workshop programme.
Spotlight run Youth Centres across East London, including our local centre in Langdon Park. We have run a number of workshops with Spotlight including planter building, seat making and furniture designing.
Making for Change is a fully-equipped workshop that produces to an industry standard across a wide range of products including daywear, accessories and homeware. Together, we were part of the UAL Climate Studio project.
We are funded and supported by
We are funded and supported by a number of groups including Wen, Poplar Harca, Hill Housing, The Postcode Lottery, East End Community Foundation, The Canary Wharf Group, Hubbub, The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, ReLondon, the LLDC, the National Lottery, the University of Sheffield, the University of the Arts London, and more. Thanks to them all for allowing our work to happen.
