Susannah Walker
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susannahwalker.bsky.social
Susannah Walker
@susannahwalker.bsky.social
4.1K followers 2.2K following 1.5K posts
Author + campaigner for gender equality and safety in public space + post-war graphics + other stuff.

Rants about stately homes here:
https://susannahwalker.substack.com

Co-founder of @makespaceforgirls and formerly @QuadRoyal
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susannahwalker.bsky.social
The beloved and still missed Eartha Kitten, my first cat who I got as a student and who lived with me for all eighteen years of my London life.
A tortoiseshell cat is nudging the arm of a person trying to work on a computer. Me, a long time ago and the Mac is vintage now. Cat still missed.
November 13, 2025 at 10:44 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
I am in central Wiltshire. No sea here. What gives?
A brick wall with a road sign on it which says "BYTHESEA ROAD". This is Trowbridge, in Wiltshire, an entirely landlocked county.
November 12, 2025 at 5:12 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Sending cats
Ottoline is on my desk inspecting my work on the computer. She is tabby and white and does not look pleased Hodge, a mix of every cat colour and white is rolling on the patio looking as though she has been poorly assembled
November 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Because I am writing about Tirzah Garwood for a talk, please have this picture of her kitchen.

Otherwise I will have to post about the Parliamentary briefing documents which are making me cross and I think you would rather have cats
Black and white wood engraving by Tirzah Garwood of an old-fashioned kitchen with a range and a boiler and a dresser. Four cats are milling around, three on the floor and one on the boiler; a hen is nesting on the range.
October 16, 2025 at 2:45 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Genius idea from @chiena.bsky.social, practicalities from both of us.
Actual cats - Ottoline and Hodge - for comparison below:
A tabby and white cat sits on a white bedcover, contemplating how much fur to shed A tortie, ginger, tabby and white cat is curled up on a chair with one ginger paw sticking out, next to a whole range of mad carpets.
October 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Daughter has just started uni, and was very worried about missing the cats (who were her emotional support animals all through GCSE and A Level).
So we gave her the cats to take with her, just in cushion form.
Genuinely the most satisfying bit of craft I have ever done.
A student sits on the bed in her new college room, holding two cushions with cats printed on them.
October 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Was going to mow the lawn. Changed my mind.

I live in the centre of a town for goodness sake.
A hawk dismembers a pigeon on an overgrown lawn.
October 1, 2025 at 2:59 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
I've just been reminded in another place about how great this installation is - designed to give teenage girls a place to climb, chat, hangout and most of all belong.

There's a great blog about how it came to be, here:
www.earthscapeplay.com/2024/12/desi...
A heart shaped climbing space set in amongst modern buildings in Kitchener Canada. It is covered in teenage girls. Detail of the heart shaped climbing space set in amongst modern buildings in Kitchener Canada with girls climbing.
September 29, 2025 at 11:35 AM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
An Italian beach with hot springs: a situation which really needed Martin Parr but got me instead.
A cove with blue sea. Dozens of people are crammed together in the sea close to the shore like they are at a party. To the left is a big rock with a sign coming out of it warning of boiling water in three languages.
September 27, 2025 at 4:34 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Further update. More cats. To be precise, tiny playful kittens.
(Poor photo but they run off if I open the door; they are playing with the teenage black cat)
Under a table two tiny kittens - one black and one black and white - are playing on a blue cushion with a teenage black cat
September 26, 2025 at 1:17 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
How it’s going…
A man sits on a patio trying to read with a black kitten on his knee.
September 25, 2025 at 7:36 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Not all the features of our holiday home were mentioned on the listing.
Three cats - one black and white, one black and one torture lie around on the patio like they own the place.. Two black cats are gate keeping the path
September 23, 2025 at 3:07 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Greetings from Naples where the best ice creams come from Gay Odin and Maradona is a saint who will live forever.
Mural of Maradona by a church in Naples wearing a bishops hat and looking saintly Mural of Maradona in Naples outside pizza shop in which he is both a saint and a small boy playing football and eating pizza Maradona graffiti implying he is god and will live forever
September 17, 2025 at 7:44 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
I've been waiting until I was back at my computer to reply tot this, because this diagram shows some research done in a school playground in Barcelona. And yes, that dark blue bit in the middle is where there are two football pitches.
Diagrams of how boys and girls move around in a school playground in Barcelona. The boys are using the whole centre of the space where there are two football pitches, the girls are literally marginalised down one side.
August 30, 2025 at 12:00 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
The climbing wall at the Olympic park is a good example of that, or alternatively these vast swings.
A huge swing set for all ages, built like a sloping metal oval with supports, illuminated at dusk. More of this kind of thing please
August 30, 2025 at 11:56 AM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Finally, an incredible playground in Sweden which was co-designed by teenage girls and takes up the space of a MUGA with room for lots of different people to play.

A reminder, in the UK, MUGAs (those fenced pitches) are 92% used by boys and young men.
An aerial view of a playground which has a range of facilities including swing, trampolines, basketball court, shelter, climbing frame and ping pong table, all painted playfully in orange and white
August 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Or you could just be like Copenhagen and install trampolines in the street for everyone to use - again teenage girls ask for these.
A street in central Copenhagen has old houses along one side. Bikes are parked along the edge of the pavement and there are four trampolines set into the street. A girl is bouncing from one to another, with glee.
August 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
For sheer aspirational beauty, it's hard to beat Swing Time, which was an installation in Boston which lasted for ten years but was removed last year. And was very popular with teenage girls.
Giant hoops are hanging from a metal frame as swings, and they light up pale blue in the night.
August 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
And people are doing this in the UK. At @rowntreepark.bsky.social in York, Abigail Gaines has spent a couple of years talking to teenage girls and fundraising for the facilities they want: things to clamber on and swings.
Two teenage girls push another one on a big swing, they all look very happy Three girls sit on a log structure talking and laughing with trees behind. A skateboard is propped up next to them
August 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
In Superkilen park in Copenhagen, they have swings which are also social seating - and as you can see from the picture, it's not just girls who like this kind of thing but adult women too
Big circles of metalwork each hold two benches so that people can swing and talk to each other at the same time, and lots of women are there doing just that. The tarmac underneath is red.
August 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Generally, if you talk to teenage girls, they want three things: social seating where they can face each other and chat, places to climb and play, and swings. Here is some social seating and shelter in a meanwhile space co-designed by teenagers in Wembley (note works for small kids too...)
Round orange seats like cut out circles are mixed with small round blue stools, behind is a wooden shelter with more stepped seating
August 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
In Canada, Earthscape Play co-designed this wonderful thing which is now installed in the town of Kitchener. You can climb it or hang out with your friends - there is even a cup holder on the top.
A wooden structure which is two teardrops with pink edges, you can sit inside them or climb on top, and girls are doing that. From the side, the shapes look like a heart.
August 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
This park in Malmö in Sweden was co-designed by teenage girls and young women; it has a climbing wall, bars to hang off (girls literally love to hang around) and a stage for performances. And lots of different spaces so that one group can't dominate.
a play area with red and black tarmac, a climbing wall to the right and some big concrete letters in rainbow colours, along with climbing bars to the left and two children cycling past
August 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
Talking to teenage girls, two pictures are almost always the most popular. One is the shelter above, the other is these hammocks in Poland. I would quite like them too...
A long run of blue netted hammocks are set into a wooden boardwalk by a lake; two people are lounging on them; two more walk past on a fine day
August 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
susannahwalker.bsky.social
In response to my rant yesterday, I was asked how we can make better parks and other public places for teenage girls? What do they want? I have answers to this, so now a positive 🧵.
Starting in Sweden, where this was co-designed by teenage girls.
Frizon shelter - a curved space with seats like swings and lovely coloured perspex in the roof and a view of the city of Umeå at dusk. Two teenage girls sit in one of the swing seats having a chat.
August 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM