The most energised housekeeping we’ve ever heard set the tone for the day. Rory from the Nature Towns and Cities team jumped to the mic and turned what’s usually a sleepy administrative moment into a rallying cry for collective purpose. It was a great opener for a conference that reminded us that when you bring people together with warmth and intention, good things grow.
We’d come to the Creating Nature Neighbourhoods conference to listen and learn. The Nature Towns and Cities coalition brings together public, private and third sector organisations committed to putting nature at the heart of urban life – not as a decorative extra, but as an essential ingredient in how towns and cities thrive. The day gathered councils, funders, grassroots organisers, designers and advocates, all asking a simple question with radical implications: how can neighbourhoods themselves lead the recovery of nature?
Voices of lived experience and structural honesty
First up was Tayshan Hayden-Smith, a former footballer who founded Grow to Know in Ladbroke Grove after the Grenfell Tower fire. His words reminded the room that urban nature work isn’t just about greening – it’s about justice, belonging and repair.
“Land opportunities and green space access have the chance to change the nation,” he said. “We’re not talking about really uncomfortable things – at the convenience of those with power.”
Tayshan called out how planning and design decisions can entrench inequality, and how community-led interventions – spatial and social – are a way to reclaim dignity. His challenge landed not as cynicism, but as care: an insistence that nature recovery must start with people, not policy.
The long game of trust
Next, Rachel Rowney, Chief Executive of Local Trust, shared stories from more than fifteen years of Big Local – 150 communities given resources and time to lead their own regeneration. Around 50 of those groups have chosen to invest in open space. The examples were deeply practical: Newham’s Pro Green project, for instance, shows what happens when local people steward green space as a public good, not a municipal afterthought.
Rachel’s talk reframed “green infrastructure” as social infrastructure. The evidence was clear: when communities control decisions and funds, their spaces don’t just look better – they feel legitimate, safer, and more cared for.
Local authorities as gardeners of networks
In the afternoon, we joined the session on how local authorities can nurture voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) networks. Bristol City Council’s Parks team spoke about their approach – supporting ‘Friends of’ groups to steward green spaces, and developing open, user-friendly resources to help communities navigate Localism and asset transfer processes.
It reminded us how much depends on the tone of governance: when councils act as gardeners rather than gatekeepers, community energy flourishes.
Re-rooting legitimacy
The day closed with findings from There Is An Alternative’s thoughtful and interactive report, People, Place and Nature – a deep dive into how 18 VCSE organisations have reimagined their neighbourhoods through trust, creativity and collaboration. Its stories echo the conversations throughout the day: the power of long-term relationships, the courage to make (and learn from) mistakes, and the simple truth that “it’s not always about plants – it’s about people.”
What Common took away
For us, this was the right place to be – a nourishing antidote to the closed, extractive models of “green” decision-making that still dominate too many places. What stood out was a shared understanding that social legitimacy is the beating heart of any credible environmental effort. Without it, nature recovery risks becoming another technocratic project done to communities rather than with them.
At Common, we believe that when land – whether churchyard, woodland or park – is held and cared for locally, nature thrives because people do. We work with local authorities, funders, and communities to create the practical and relational conditions for that to happen: shared governance, long-term stewardship, and the confidence to experiment without fear of failure.
Looking ahead
The Nature Towns and Cities coalition is creating space for precisely the kind of bridge-building our sector needs. If we want greener neighbourhoods that last, the work isn’t only about planting trees or designing rain gardens — it’s about investing in trust, agency and relationships.
So here’s what we took from the day:
- Funders – back the groups willing to learn in public.
- Local authorities – keep making the path clearer for community stewardship.
- Big intermediaries – use your convening power to lift up grassroots voices.
- Communities – your lived knowledge is the foundation of a nature-positive future.
And for anyone working at the intersection of people, place and planet: if you’re looking for partners to help put land and decision-making closer to communities, we’d love to work alongside you. Get in touch for a friendly chat.
Author: Tom Carman, Head of Communities
