The Gardens Trust: New Towns- Learning From The Past, Shaping The Future

Date: 23 – 24th September 2026

Location: Milton Keynes

This two-day conference will be held in Milton Keynes on 23 – 24th September 2026 and will bring together academics, practitioners, policymakers, and those with direct experience of New Town development to explore how the histories of New Towns can inform their futures.

New Towns represent some of the most ambitious urban experiments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As many face renewal, adaptation, or reimagining, there is an urgent need to reflect on their origins, lived experiences, and long-term trajectories. This event places historical insight at the centre of forward-looking debate, asking how lessons from the past can meaningfully shape future planning, design, governance, and community life.

The conference is conceived as both a scholarly forum and a space for professional and intergenerational exchange, encouraging dialogue between research, practice, and lived experience.

Booking information to be confirmed.