Invisible Cities is a social enterprise in the United Kingdom redefining what it means to explore a city. By training individuals who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides, Invisible Cities offers immersive, off-the-beaten-path tours that challenge stereotypes, celebrate resilience, and bring untold stories to life. Founded in Edinburgh in 2016 by social entrepreneur Zakia Moulaoui Guery, the initiative has since expanded to Glasgow, Manchester, York, and Cardiff, with more cities on the horizon.
Each tour is carefully crafted and led by a guide who shares not just local landmarks and historical facts but also personal narratives shaped by lived experience. In Edinburgh, guests might walk the Royal Mile or uncover hidden histories in the Leith neighborhood. Manchester’s tours explore music, pubs, protest, and working-class life, while York’s itineraries dive into the railway legacy and the story of Guy Fawkes. In Cardiff, visitors encounter poetry, activism, and cultural transformation.
Invisible Cities believes that tourism can be a tool for dignity, empowerment, and connection. While travelers discover neighborhoods and histories often overlooked by mainstream itineraries, guides gain employment, renewed confidence, and a meaningful platform to be heard.
The Invisible Cities Origin StoryÂ
After years working in international homelessness advocacy, including with the Homeless World Cup Foundation, Zakia Moulaoui Guery knew that people living on the margins had powerful stories to tell. In 2015, a period of travel and volunteer work, including time in a refugee camp in Lesvos, crystallized her vision for a different kind of tourism. Inspired to do things differently, she returned to Scotland and launched Invisible Cities in Edinburgh to amplify voices too often left out of the travel narrative.
Under Zakia’s leadership, Invisible Cities has grown into a national network of changemakers. Working in partnership with local organizations, Invisible Cities now supports guides with training in public speaking, storytelling, and customer service, helping them turn personal challenges into sources of strength. Zakia, a passionate advocate for inclusive tourism and social justice, has been honored by National Geographic Traveller and other industry awards for her work. Her TEDx talk, Invisible People, shares her vision of how stories can break down stigma and build bridges across communities.
In 2025, Invisible Cities celebrated a major milestone with the launch of its Aberdeen tours, supported by the UnTours Foundation’s Reset Tourism Fund and Homewards UK, an initiative of The Royal Foundation led by Prince William. His Royal Highness joined one of the inaugural walking tours, guided by Angus, one of Aberdeen’s first trained guides, and met with other program graduates and partners, including UnTours Foundation Co-CEO Jonathan Coleman. The visit drew national attention and highlighted the shared mission of Homewards and Invisible Cities: to demonstrate that homelessness can be addressed through creative, community-led solutions that restore dignity, visibility, and opportunity.
How Invisible Cities Is Making A Positive Impact
Invisible Cities is proving that tourism can do more than entertain. It can educate, employ, and empower. By training people who have experienced homelessness to lead walking tours, the organization transforms city streets into classrooms, platforms, and pathways to new possibilities.
In Manchester, guests follow a guide through historic pubs and alleyways, reliving nights out from the 1980s while uncovering the city’s social evolution. In York, they trace the life of Guy Fawkes or explore the legacy of the railways. In Edinburgh, tours highlight stories of crime and punishment or the often-overlooked women who shaped the city’s past. Each tour is woven with personal reflection, offering travelers a more human, more meaningful experience.
Beyond the tours, Invisible Cities provides wraparound support for each guide. One-on-one mentorship helps them pursue personal goals, whether that’s reuniting with family, returning to education, or starting a new career. The enterprise also reinvests profits into community projects like Writing on the Wall, a storytelling publication in Manchester; Street Barber pop-ups offering free haircuts to people experiencing homelessness; and Welcome Kits for refugees and families settling into new cities across the UK.
This model is creating real change. It challenges stigma, creates paid employment, and brings people together across lines of difference. With a presence in five cities and plans to expand to ten by 2026, Invisible Cities is helping reimagine who belongs in our cities and who gets to tell their stories.
How You Can Support Invisible Cities
You can support Invisible Cities by booking a tour, sponsoring a guide, or partnering to bring their model to a new city. Whether you’re a local or a visitor, Invisible Cities invites you to see your surroundings with fresh eyes, hear stories that matter, and walk alongside those working to rewrite the narrative around homelessness.
