Transforming a forgotten shopping centre into a green heart for Croydon—where community, sustainability, and social impact bloom.
Grand Challenge 2025:
Second Place
Design Tools
This project began as part of the RCA Grand Challenge—the world’s largest single-institution postgraduate design project. Every year, students from across disciplines at the Royal College of Art team up to tackle urgent global issues through collaboration and design.
For the 2024/25 theme, Design Resilience, 108 teams were each assigned a different borough across Greater London. Our team was given Croydon, a place with a rich past but also some pressing challenges.
Croydon is a large borough in South London, historically known as a key transport and commercial hub. With strong road and rail links, it grew from a market town into a major industrial centre during the Victorian era—connecting London to the southern counties.
When we visited Croydon, we were struck by the quiet streets, empty buildings, and nearly deserted malls—just one pub in the town centre, which felt unusual for London. Conversations with residents and the Croydon Urban Room revealed deeper issues: a lack of public services, social spaces, and a growing homelessness crisis. It was clear the borough needed new ideas to bring its community back together.
"Make Croydon greener!"
"The Whitgift Centre could be the next Barbican!"
Resource from: Croydon Urban Room
People want Green spaces to relax and Community engagement spaces for leisure in and around the Croydon Town Centre.
Our research helped us map out the key stakeholders shaping Croydon—residents, visitors, businesses, and the borough council—based on their influence and needs. Using a systems map, we uncovered deeper issues across the borough: a lack of green spaces, financial struggles, and growing distrust between the community and the council due to unmet expectations.
Financial Instability
Croydon faces acute financial instability, having declared bankruptcy three times in the past decade. The frequent enforcement of Section 114 notices restricts spending to essential statutory services.
Rising homelessness
Homelessness rates continue to rise, with temporary housing solutions proving inadequate services to meet demand.
Empty buildings and stalled redevelopment
Malls like the Whitgift Centre are underused, with delayed plans and little progress, leading to a sense of neglect and disconnection.
Lack of green and social spaces
The town centre has very few accessible, inviting areas for people to relax, connect, or spend time in nature.
Design and implement green spaces within Whitgift Centre that foster community bonding & social inclusion while promoting sustainability at their core?
Our concept reimagines the empty spaces within the Whitgift Centre as vibrant green hubs for people to gather, connect, and unwind. With so few green spaces in Croydon’s town centre, Whitgift Blooms brings nature and community together—creating an inclusive environment that supports well-being and resilience.
These new spaces blend greenery with the mall environment, creating lively hubs for social connection across all age groups. Each area is designed with accessibility in mind and features elements that invite interaction—like seating, planting zones, and solar-powered lighting for sustainability.
Navigation was a major challenge, so I developed an app that guides visitors through Whitgift Bloom, highlights ongoing events, and connects them to other green spaces across Croydon. This enhances exploration, making it easier to engage with both natural and urban environments.
The workshops were designed to activate the space, bring people together, and strengthen community bonds—through nature, creativity, and shared experiences.
🌿 Croydon Green Quest－
Explore, Collect, and Care!
🌻 Grow and Glow－
Mini Plant Store Adventure
🍽️ Cook and Care－
Little Chefs for a Big Cause
🌿 Croydon Green Quest－ Explore, Collect, and Care!
A nature-based scavenger hunt that encourages families to explore Croydon’s parks. Participants choose a mission—either take photos of local biodiversity or help clean up litter. After completing the quest, they return to Whitgift Blooms for small rewards like vouchers, creating a fun, educational loop between the mall and surrounding green spaces.
🌻 Grow and Glow－ Mini Plant Store Adventure
Children and parents plant flowers together in Whitgift Blooms' indoor garden. As the plants grow, they can choose to either bring them home or sell them at a mini plant market inside Whitgift Blooms. It’s a playful way to teach kids about responsibility, creativity, and even a little entrepreneurship.
🍽️ Cook and Care－ Little Chefs for a Big Cause
Using surplus ingredients from Whitgift Blooms' food court, children and families cook simple, healthy meals together. The prepared meals are then shared with local homeless communities—promoting compassion, reducing food waste, and turning cooking into a way of caring.
Our team aligned well with the idea of creating a solution that provides trickle-down benefits to all target stakeholders, leading to the development of a circular model for our final project. Whitgift Blooms becomes a hub with green spaces and social areas, attracting people and boosting revenue. The broader community benefits from inviting spaces for socializing, reducing isolation, and fostering a sense of belonging. This interconnected system ensures everyone contributes to and benefits from a more sustainable and inclusive Croydon.
