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Front to back: Urban Good in Modern London Maps

Posted by Charlie Peel on

By Charlie Peel, founder of Urban Good CIC

Two of our maps appear in Vincent Westbrook’s Modern London Maps — and they’ve made it onto both covers. The first edition of our Central London Footways map is on the front, with the London National Park City Map on the back. Both also feature inside.

Front cover of Modern London Maps by Vincent Westbrook, with a turquoise detail from the first-edition Central London Footways map at the top right.Back cover of Modern London Maps, with an extract from the London National Park City Map down the right-hand side.
Our first-edition Central London Footways map on the front cover (left), and London National Park City Map on the back (right).

I worked closely with Vincent as he put the book together. He came to my Dalston studio a couple of times, giving us the chance to talk through the maps and the ideas behind them. Alongside those conversations, I helped supply good-quality artwork for publication, so readers could explore the maps in detail.

Published by Batsford in May 2025, Modern London Maps brings together more than 60 maps, with much of the collection drawn from The London Archives. Its subjects range from transport and the changing city to green spaces and pictorial maps: different ways of understanding London through what mapmakers choose to show.

Our two contributions share an interest in getting people out into the city. Footways, made in collaboration with London Living Streets, connects places through appealing streets to walk along. The London National Park City Map brings London’s parks, woodlands, waterways and other green spaces into view. One invites you to take a different route; the other helps you see the wider landscape around it.

Pages 90–91 of Modern London Maps, showing Central London Footways: text and enlarged map details on the left and the turquoise walking map on the right.
Central London Footways, the 2020 first edition, on pages 90–91.
Pages 88–89 of Modern London Maps, with the green London National Park City Map on the left and text headed London National Park City on the right.
The London National Park City Map on pages 88–89.

The book has had some lovely reviews. Londonist describes “a chunky and nutritious filling of cartographic splendour”, while Mapping London recommends it as “definitely one for those who appreciate London and cartography”.

Thank you to Vincent for taking the time to understand our work, and for giving both maps such a prominent place in the book.

Explore Modern London Maps on the Batsford website, and read more about our original Footways map and London National Park City Map.

Photographs by Charlie Peel / Urban Good CIC.