Changemakers, Then and Now: Celebrating Ten Years of Invisible Cities

By Rowan Brown, Director, The Cockburn Association

Our namesake, Lord Henry Cockburn, and his allies, were changemakers. Compelled by what we might term today social justice principles, they rallied against the abject poverty, dangerous housing and poor health they experienced in nineteenth-century Edinburgh.

A gregarious and accomplished individual, Lord Cockburn was a circuit judge, whose consequential tours across the length and breadth of Scotland provided context for his firm and passionate views. Born in the Age of the Enlightenment, he contributed extensively to public reform, advocating for better health and housing, and before joining the bench, he appeared as defence counsel in some of the most famous cases of the day, including Burke and Hare. He deemed Glasgow a ‘hot and smoky workshop’ and was scathing about Dundee recording that ‘despite the River Tay, it was the most contemptable sink of atrocity in Scotland.’

Cockburn was witness to an enormous period of transition, particularly in the city of Edinburgh. The tiny medieval heart more than doubled through the development of the New Town and its spillage down to Leith. The Old Town had become a series of overcrowded, precarious and squalid structures, where poverty and cholera were rife, and the city’s population was becoming more segregated, with rich and poor each experiencing a very different Edinburgh.

Lord Cockburn expressed increasing frustration at the lack of stewardship exhibited by the wealthy classes. The historic estates in disrepair, the hovel-dwelling tenants, and the neglected ancient landscapes and structures – he regarded it all as a scandalous dereliction of duty, and quoted an anonymous epitaph that captured it:

‘This world is a cite

Ful of streets

And Death is the mercat

That all men meets.

If lyfe were a thing

That monie could

Buy, the poor could

Not live, and the rich

Would not die’

In twenty-first century Edinburgh, the symptoms of poverty may be less visible than the Dickensian squalor of Cockburn’s time, but they are no less damaging. Though there are tents appearing across the city, it’s incredibly hard to quantify the number of individuals dependent on ‘sofa-surfing’, moving from friends to family members, sometimes daily, with no fixed abode. In February 2025, Shelter Scotland reported that there were more children in Edinburgh in temporary accommodation than in the whole of Wales. In fact, Edinburgh has the highest number of open cases of homelessness across the country – 9,604 cases in 2025/26 – 27% of the nation’s total.

The Cockburn Association of today is as determined to support better outcomes for our city’s residents, as our predecessors were. That’s why we’re prioritising strategic partnerships with Edinburgh charities whose missions align with ours. I’m delighted that we have been able to partner with the formidable Invisible Cities as they celebrate their tenth anniversary.

Founded in Edinburgh in 2016, by the force of nature that is Zakia Moulaoui Guery, the Edinburgh-born social enterprise supports people who have experienced homelessness to deliver their own bespoke city tours. Zakia’s experience of co-delivering the Homelessness World Cup, and visiting the notorious French refugee camps, shaped her admirable ambition to capitalise on increasing tourism to shape better opportunities for those most in need.

Zakia Moulaoui Guery, Founder and CEO of Invisible Cities with Stephen Jardine, President of The Cockburn Association at the Doors Open Days press launch, Camera Obscura. Photo: Camera Obscura.

Testament to her determination, and quite frankly, genius, are stories like Sonny’s, who despite a series of tragic early experiences, is also celebrating his own tenth anniversary as one of the city’s most colourful ambassadors, hosting none other than Elaine C. Smith on one of his brilliant Crime and Punishment city tours.

Championed by fashion royalty (Vogue) and actual royalty (Prince William), Invisible Cities offers themed tours on a variety of underserved topics and hidden histories, but avoids the perils of the odious appetite for poverty tourism. To mark their tenth anniversary, the irrepressible Zakia determined to spread the movement throughout the UK with ten tours in ten places. Needless to say, that’s been achieved, and you can experience a unique Invisible Cities tour, and ensure the development of social outcome-led tourism in Aberdeen, Glasgow, the Scottish Borders, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, York, Cardiff, Newport, and Edinburgh.

I’m proud to say that our burgeoning partnership has so far delivered a new Hidden Gems Tour, disseminating the work of Lord Cockburn and the Cockburn Association, in collaboration with Forever Edinburgh and an unforgettable Board and Staff tour of the ‘real Women of Edinburgh’ delivered by the phenomenal Gayle. For this year’s Doors Open Days, we facilitated 120 free Invisible Cities Tours, and were delighted to accept the invitation to the Social Enterprise’s tenth Anniversary Fundraising Gala – meeting beneficiaries and partners from across the UK, commemorating those whose journeys did not end well, and celebrating the many more stories of hopeful and positive life-changing transitions.  This mission isn’t an easy one – it takes patience and courage.

Sonny, who is celebrating ten years as an Invisible Cities guide, leading a Crime and Punishment tour. Photo: Invisible Cities.

Though many critics have accused the Association of Georgian fixation, and a propensity to be drawn to the cause of the finer things in life, this could not be further from the truth. The Cockburn has always supported all of Edinburgh’s communities and residents and rallied against the profoundly negative impacts of the overcommercialisation of Scotland’s capital. Today, we remain as determined as ever to challenge the inequities in our city and achieve better outcomes for All.

Shelter Scotland
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/media/press_releases/more_children_trapped_in_temporary_accommodation_in_edinburgh_than_whole_of_wales

Scottish Government Data of Homelessness
https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2025-26/pages/the-extent-of-homelessness-in-scotland/

Invisible Cities
https://invisible-cities.org