The way homes & neighbourhoods are designed, built & run has unique superpowers to inspire & enable a healthier, more connected, sustainable way of life. But too often in modern Britain they do the opposite - discouraging & disabling sustainability - locking us into unhealthy, depressing, isolated, high-carbon, expensive, nature-trashing lifestyles.

As we race to build 1.5 million more (much needed) homes, are we really doing everything we can to harness the power of place to make life for households, communities & nature better rather than worse?

Planning & building new settlements & New Towns isn’t just about meeting housing need. At its best it’s an opportunity to manifest government missions in vivid & compelling ways, demonstrating how the UK can transform to meet the great challenges of the 21st-century.

The Human Nature Places Foundation has convened a fantastic group of leading designers, engineers & natural builders to explore ‘How shall we live? New Settlements, New Imperatives, New Models’.

We’re pooling our ideas, experience, designs & concepts to create a set of proposals & provocations addressing how the planned New Towns – & any new settlement at scale – can lean into the job of shaping great lives by embracing rather than avoiding 21st century climate, nature & social imperatives.

Please join us at the launch of our initial concepts.

Presentations, discussion, light refreshments, inspiration, activation

Kindly hosted by Thomas Heatherwick Studio

How Shall We Live? New Settlements, New Imperatives, New Models - LAUNCH