Edinburgh conference

Thursday, 29 January 2026 |  08:30 – 17:00 BST

The Scottish Government has set an ambitious housing target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 as part of its Housing to 2040 Strategy, as a response to the national housing emergency. This goal presents an opportunity to create high quality places that are resilient, inclusive and sustainable, delivering long-term value for people, communities and the environment.

To explore how this quality can be achieved, the Landscape Institute (LI) is hosting national conferences across the UK in 2025 and 2026. The second in the series will be held at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, on Thursday 29 January 2026.

This event will examine how a Landscape-led approach can support the delivery of Scotland’s housing ambitions while addressing the climate and nature emergencies, promoting wellbeing, and strengthening communities. It will explore how Landscape-led Planning and design can help to implement the Place Principle, support the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), and contribute to the just transition to net zero.

A Landscape-led approach places the landscape at the heart of decision making, ensuring that development responds to local context, integrates nature and climate action, and delivers long-term social and economic value. It is fundamental to shaping sustainable and liveable places that unite policy, planning, design and management to achieve outcomes that work for people, place and nature.

Collaboration across the built and natural environment is essential to achieving this ambition. By embracing a Landscape-led approach, developers, planners, housing providers, local authorities and other professionals can unlock multiple benefits, including:

• Economic growth and placemaking
• Long-term community and commercial value
• Environmental resilience and biodiversity
• Health and wellbeing outcomes
• Social equity and community cohesion

The conference will bring together policy leaders and practitioners to debate and explore how this approach can be embedded in housing delivery across Scotland. Sessions will cover themes including planning policy and housing delivery, climate and nature recovery, health and equity, and the creation of resilient, connected places.

A closing panel discussion will look ahead to how collaboration across sectors can accelerate progress. The conference will conclude with a networking reception, providing an opportunity to meet peers and partners working to create high-quality homes and neighbourhoods across Scotland.

The LI looks forward to hosting a timely and practical discussion about how to reconcile housing and development pressures with environmental and social objectives, and how a Landscape-led approach can turn this challenge into opportunity.

Reasons to attend

• Networking and future collaborations
  • Engage with professionals across the built and natural environment and connect with decision-makers.
• Policy and expertise update
  • Gain insight into current Scottish policy, legislation and best practice through panel discussions and case studies.
  • Learn how Landscape-led approaches deliver better planning and design outcomes for housing and regeneration.
• Getting involved
  • Contribute to panel discussions and share your perspective on housing and regeneration in Scotland.
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
  • Enhance your skills and knowledge through sessions aligned with the LI’s Landscape CPD Framework.
  • Strengthen your understanding of how to convey the value of a Landscape-led approach to housing delivery.
• Gain new ideas
  • Hear from expert speakers and Scottish case studies that show how landscape-led design adds long-term value to homes, places and communities.