The decisions shaping housing, infrastructure, investment and regeneration across the UK this decade will define the resilience, prosperity and wellbeing of future generations.
Getting those decisions right means starting in the right place with a landscape-led approach that puts nature at its heart.
For too long, nature has been treated as a peripheral concern, bolted on at the end of the development process rather than shaping it from the start.
The #NatureIsGrowth campaign, launched by the Cross Built Environment Climate & Nature Forum ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June 2026, makes the case plainly: nature is not an obstacle to growth. Nature is the foundation of it.
Landscape-led development is a practical approach to delivering the high quality places that people and communities need. It means understanding the land, water, nature, movement, local context and long-term management of a place before the main decisions are fixed – before roads are aligned, drainage systems are designed, or housing layouts are set. When nature shapes the thinking from the outset, everything that follows works better.
Public polling backs this up. People care deeply about the spaces around their homes: streets, green spaces, routes, biodiversity, drainage and public realm. Housing should be planned as whole places, not collections of individual homes in isolation. When nature is considered at the end of the process, it becomes decoration. When it leads from the start, it becomes the living infrastructure that makes places genuinely work.
The UK’s towns, cities and infrastructure systems are increasingly exposed to climate risks – flooding, overheating, water stress and biodiversity loss. The economic costs are already being felt across supply chains, public services and local economies. Nature is one of our most powerful allies in responding to these pressures, yet it remains chronically undervalued in the decisions that matter most.
Nature-based solutions – healthy catchments, urban greening, wetlands, biodiverse landscapes – reduce flood risk, cool cities, support public health and strengthen long-term economic competitiveness. These are not environmental add-ons. They are critical infrastructure, and they must be recognised as investable capital within mainstream asset management and funding frameworks.
Landscape-led development is ultimately about making better decisions earlier, with nature embedded from day one. Good landscape planning can simultaneously support housing delivery, climate resilience, nature recovery, active travel, health outcomes and long-term asset value. Projects such as the Eden Project and Belfast’s Connswater Community Greenway already demonstrate what is possible when nature is placed at the heart of decision-making, regenerating local economies and building lasting resilience.
For those shaping housing, infrastructure, investment and regeneration across the UK, the evidence is clear and the public appetite is there. Nature recovery and economic growth are mutually reinforcing. The conditions for change exist. What is needed now is the commitment to put nature and landscape first – because high quality places, resilient infrastructure and prosperous communities all grow from the same foundation.
