A rhizomatic research story about the changing landscapes of rooftop urbanism in Peckham, London

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I introduce rooftop urbanism as a landscape between earth and sky. The concept of landscape provides a framework within which rooftop urbanism can be studied as a multi-sensuous, bodily lived relation with rooftop sites at various heights in the urban fabric. Through encounters with the materialities of the roof and the rooftoppers of the former Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham, London, I craft a rhizomatic research story. I discuss the moving landscape experienced by inhabiting a rooftop above ground level and under the sky, and how the mobile landscape can be an affective means of sense-making, connecting rooftoppers beyond the rooftop. Given that changing landscapes cannot be reconstructed, I evoke impressions using images and words, which can then be read as expressions for further thought.