Creative Currents: Regenerating London’s hidden infrastructure
Creative Currents is a social enterprise revitalising London’s waterways through two interconnected pathways: Fastream, a skills accelerator and a replicable Floating Market.
Delivered full-scale live pilot combining stakeholder alignment with strategic analysis, community outreach, permitting, logistics, and on-site coordination.
Oct 2024 - Dec 2024
First Place Service Design Category, Zlin Design Week
Overview
London’s canals powered the city during the Industrial Revolution but fell into decline throughout the 20th century. Today, the number of Londoners living on boats has quadrupled since 2010, and the waterways are re-emerging as spaces for living, commuting, culture, and wellbeing.
Identify and design interventions that accelerate the regeneration of London’s canals and unlock their full potential.
100 km
Underused and unsupported urban infrastructure
+300%
Rise putting system under pressure since 2010
£1.5bn
annual economic value from waterways
“Creative Currents stood out for its clarity and realism. Rather than stopping at concept, the team prototyped in context and tailored communications for diverse stakeholders. This is a project that can start tomorrow: inclusive, feasible, and ready to scale along London’s canal network.”
Jury Statement of the Project
Research & Discovery
We conducted in-depth interviews with total of 25 participants: 15 boaters and 10 boatrepreneurs to deepen and enriched our understanding about the issues. This led us to several key insights:
This Stakeholder Map uncovers key relationships that currently shape London's canal network.
Boatpreneurs Archetypes
The Roving Canal Traders Association has 130+ member trading boats nationwide. Entrepreneurs working on London’s canals bring creativity and resilience, yet their growth is limited by systemic barriers. Through interviews and observation, we identified four broad archetypes within the canal’s economy:
Framing the opportunity
We approached the canals as a fragmented system with cultural, economic, and social potential constrained by low visibility and limited engagement. Local entrepreneurs lack spaces to be discovered, visitors have few meaningful ways to connect, and institutions struggle to see the measurable impact needed to justify long-term investment.
By mapping these gaps, we uncovered opportunities where collaboration, experiential participation, and evidence-building could activate a more resilient canal ecosystem.
From these archetypes, we uncovered strong signals of talent, creativity, and community spirit across the canal network.
How might we empower canal-based entrepreneurs to collaboratively strengthen the local economy while preserving the cultural and environmental heritage needed for a resilient canal ecosystem?
Solution strategy
London’s canals become a microcosm of innovation, culture and entrepreneurship: Micro-businesses flourish, Diverse communities come together, Culture and arts are reinvigorated
Creative Currents is a service platform with two flagship interventions:
Fastream: A tailored skill-sharing program designed to equip ‘entrepreneurial boaters’ with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed in their businesses.
Floating Market: A replicable market model along canals, combining commerce, culture, and experiential workshops to showcase entrepreneurs and engage wider audiences.
FastStream: Operations backbone
Core Value Proposition: FastStream removes operational friction for boat-entrepreneurs who want to participate in floating markets.
Key components:
Floating market
To create an authentic community atmosphere while respecting limited mooring availability along London's canals, each boat in the floating market will showcase a carefully curated selection of businesses, ensuring visitors experience the most diverse range of offerings possible.
The floating market connects Londoners and visitors with independent canal-based businesses and immersive workshops celebrating canal heritage and culture. Boaters, with a particular focus on women-owned enterprises, will share their stories, cultural traditions, and crafts while offering unique goods and building meaningful connections with local canal communities.
Creative Current collaborates with key partners including the Design Council, Craft Council, RCTA, and Canal Dreams to support and amplify this vision.
Testing & Prototyping
To validate our concept, we created three prototypes, each exploring different aspects of the floating market experience:
Pop-Up Market Experiment
Tested the viability of a floating market model through a land-based pop-up and analysis of UK markets like Columbia Road Flower Market.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Community & Craftsmanship: Vendors valued collaboration, resource-sharing, and the focus on handmade, locally produced goods.
Visibility & Growth: Increased social media presence, attracted new audiences, and fostered potential partnerships.
Financial Viability: Broke even, demonstrating strong business potential and scalability.
Feasibility & Interest Assessment
Validated market demand through dual-track research by engaging potential business owners via flyer campaigns and Instagram prototype testing, while measuring public interest in experiential canal markets through targeted online surveys. Synthesized qualitative stakeholder feedback with quantitative consumer data to inform concept development.
Awards & Recognition
Awarded First Prize in the Service Design category at Zlín Design Week, recognizing innovative approaches to canal-based experiential retail and community engagement.
