Simeon Shtebunaev, Senior Researcher at Social Life, will be speaking at the upcoming Landscaping the Housebuilding Revolution conference on Tuesday, 25 February in London.
As the UK Government commits to delivering 1.5 million homes over the next five years, the conversation around "building" often focuses on numbers and units. At Social Life, our research consistently shows that the success of any new development depends entirely on the quality of the spaces between the buildings.
Simeon will join an expert panel, chaired by Prof Samer Bagaeen (University of the Built Environment/RTPI), alongside Simone Wilding (Chief Planner, Bristol City Council) and Alison Ogley (Freeths LLP).
The panel, titled "Bridging the Gap," will explore how the landscaping sector can move beyond aesthetic greenery to create essential social infrastructure. Simeon will be drawing on Social Life’s extensive project catalogue—including our work across housing estates in the UK such as Kidbrooke Village and South Acton—to advocate for a shift in how we value green infrastructure and the urban realm in housing developments.
The Design for Social Sustainability’s amenities and social infrastructure dimension is a key component of a successful place. We regularly conduct our expanded Building for a Healthy Life assessments to understand the quality of the built and urban environment across housing estates. Across our work in housing several themes appear consistently:
- Green spaces can serve as health infrastructure, moving beyond "nice-to-have" amenities to treating parks as "lifelines" for mental health and social equity, particularly in high-density urban areas.
- We continuously see the value of the "social front door", urban design can facilitate—or hinder—informal "bumping into" neighbours, which is the bedrock of community resilience.
- The difference between place-making and place-keeping: Challenging the industry to match the ambition of rapid construction with long-term stewardship and maintenance.
- How we connect old and new using landscape strategies, like the "Green River" concept in Kidbrooke Village, can ensure new developments integrate with existing communities rather than creating a "them and us" divide.
We look forward to a morning of transparent conversation with planners, developers, and architects about putting landscape at the heart of the placemaking revolution.
