Between Camberwell, Denmark Hill and Herne Hill, the sloping green of Ruskin Park is a cornerstone for the communities surrounding it.
Locals gather along its winding paths to walk dogs, play tennis, tend vegetables in the community garden and, on special occasions, pause to listen to the jazz drifting from the bandstand.
But Ruskin Park also has a quieter function: as a living memorial to the nineteenth-century critic, writer and social thinker, John Ruskin, who’s ideas about art, nature and public responsibility helped shape British life.
Dr Suzanne Cooper, Honorary Fellow at the University of York and author of To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters, reflects on his continuing relevance – and what his way of seeing might instruct about how we move through green space, and through the city, today.
Featured image credit: Emily Driver
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