The Gardens Trust’s annual conference is heading to Milton Keynes

A major conference in Milton Keynes this September will explore how greener thinking could help shape Britain’s next generation of communities.

As Britain embarks on plans for thousands of much-needed new homes, experts will unite this month to ask a vital question: how can we build communities that put people and nature first?

The Gardens Trust’s Historic Landscapes Assembly, on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September 2026, will explore how lessons from historic landscapes and successful new towns could help create healthier, greener and more sustainable communities.

Titled New Town Landscapes: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future, the conference will bring together experts from the UK and around the world to consider landscape-led planning, biodiversity, climate resilience, art and green spaces’ role in everyday life.

Milton Keynes makes a particularly fitting setting. Famous for its innovative planning and extensive network of parks, lakes and green corridors, the town offers a golden example of how nature and development can work together. Campbell Park (pictured by David Bailey), with its sweeping lawns, waterways and varied planting, is one of its best-known green spaces.

Speakers will look at case studies including Redditch and Warrington, alongside projects across Europe, the US and Asia.

You can find the programme and booking details at eventbrite.co.uk; alternatively, visit thegardenstrust.org.

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