Kilburn High Road is a classic London high­ street: packed with people, lined with cheap shops and cafes, and slowly losing its identity. Responding to a joint council brief for a pop­-up shop project, Spacemakers proposed that, rather than more shops, Kilburn needed new ideas, and a place to have them.

Learning from Kilburn is the result: a tiny, experimental university, of, for and about Kilburn. Drawing on the High Road as both curriculum and campus, the university offers a series of free classes, each led by a range of artists, architects and thinkers, and each studying a different aspect of the area.

With classes including 'What does Kilburn wear?', 'Where does Kilburn live?' and 'Does Kilburn even exist?', we aim to help local people study what makes Kilburn the place it is, and to create a space for the community to imagine new futures for the area.

Learning from Kilburn ran from October 2013 to May 2014. The project was directed by Tom Keeley, in collaboration with OK-RM and Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio, and funded by the London Boroughs of Brent and Camden. Photography by Theo Simpson.