Leith Listings | Biomorphis

Leith Listings is a community-led mapping project and exhibition developed as part of the People and Places programme.

Overview

Leith Listings is a community-led mapping project and exhibition developed as part of the People and Places programme.

The project set out to identify buildings, structures, people, and places of architectural or historical value across Leith. Rather than relying on expert opinion alone, the process placed local knowledge at its core. As a result, the exhibition became both a cultural record and a live act of participation.

Co-Curating a Living Directory

The project introduced Leith Listings as a new, evolving directory for the neighbourhood.

During the exhibition, visitors actively contributed to the archive. Google Earth street views, snapshots, and printed images were accessioned on site. With each contribution, the directory expanded and became richer. At the same time, the exhibition space operated as a workshop, discussion forum, and archive.

Importantly, the list was never fixed. Instead, it grew through conversation, memory, and shared experience.

Engagement in the Streets

While the exhibition unfolded indoors, engagement continued outside.

Facilitators from HERE+NOW spoke directly with people on the streets of Leith. They asked simple but powerful questions. Which places matter to you? What parts of the streetscape do you love? What should be protected, celebrated, or reimagined?

These street conversations fed directly back into the exhibition. Consequently, the project bridged formal display and everyday urban life.

Part of a Wider Cultural Framework

Leith Listings formed part of Architecture Fringe 2017 and the People and Places: Make Leith Better initiative.

The project also sat within Leith Creative, a place-based research programme asking a direct question: How can we Make Leith Better?

Through a series of events and creative interventions, Leith Creative invited residents to define local assets, identify challenges, and imagine positive change.

From Data to Cultural Blueprint

The collected material did not end with the exhibition.

Instead, the information was transformed into a cultural blueprint for Leith. This blueprint reflected how residents understand their place and how they want it to evolve. Therefore, planning, heritage, and future development could respond to lived experience rather than abstract policy alone.

In this way, Leith Listings became both a record of the present and a guide for the future.

A Collective Act of Care

Ultimately, Leith Listings demonstrated the value of collective authorship.

By combining local voices, digital tools, and public engagement, the project reframed heritage as something living, shared, and continually negotiated. Above all, it showed that caring for a place begins by listening to those who know it best.