Uncovering opportunities for placemaking and innovation in Greater London and surrounding neighbourhoods.
A study into how well the shops, spaces and services in six outer London commuter neighbourhoods serve the people who live here, and where the gaps are. Findings will be published and freely available.
Our mission is to work with communities to uncover opportunities for innovation and placemaking in outer London's neighbourhoods and commuter towns, bringing the city's appeal closer to home.
Studio Zao are an innovation research and design studio, delivering place-based programmes across the UK.
Three questions about your experience living in or visiting this neighbourhood.
Daily life and routines
How people move through this neighbourhood day to day, and what pulls them elsewhere.
Gaps
Where the shops, spaces and services here fall short of what people actually need.
Opportunities
What kind of new offer would get used here, from a sauna to a street market, and what would make people choose home over central London more often.
Take part in the survey
A short two-minute survey on how you move through the area, what's missing locally, and what you'd like to see more of. Every response is entered into a prize draw for a £100 Amazon voucher, and anyone selected for an interview earns a further £50 voucher for their time. Survey closes 24 August 2026.
Six outer London commuter hubs, each with different gaps and opportunities.
If you live, work, study or regularly pass through any of these places, we'd like to hear from you.
These are six current focus areas, each home to thousands of regular commuters. More neighbourhoods will join the study as it grows. If you live, work, study or pass through any of these areas, your answers help build a picture of unmet local demand on the city's edge.
Rayners Lane
Debden
Little Chalfont
Brentwood
Finchley
Waltham Cross
More neighbourhoods may be added to the study.