Welcome to season 5 of AECOM’s Talking Infrastructure podcast. Talking Infrastructure delves into the industry’s hot topics, key projects, and the ground-breaking innovations that are helping to solve some of the world’s most complex infrastructure challenges.

Then, now, next: lessons in building lasting communities

What turns a housing development into a thriving community – a place where people feel they belong, can participate, and are proud to call home?

It is rarely just the homes. It’s the choices made long before people move in, from transport and infrastructure to public space, and the way a place is planned from day one.

In this special episode of Talking Infrastructure, recorded at UKREiiF, host Toby Sadler is joined by Angela Barnicle (Director for City Development, Leeds City Council), Rob Chesworth (Head of Housing and Strategic Land, The Crown Estate), Cathy Francis (Director for New Towns, Infrastructure and Housing Delivery, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) and Patrick Clarke (Director, UK and Ireland, Masterplanning Lead, AECOM) to explore what it takes to move from housing delivery to creating places that truly work over the long term.

The discussion focuses on infrastructure-led planning, placemaking-first design and the role of public–private partnerships in shaping communities that feel connected, sustainable and built to last. It also asks a more fundamental question: are we learning enough from the places we have already built?

Using a Then, Now and Next lens, the panel reflects on what past developments can teach us, how expectations are changing today, and how those lessons can help us avoid repeating old mistakes – whether delivering large-scale housing schemes or planning the next generation of new towns.

Listen to our latest Talking Infrastructure episode over on: https://aecom.com/podcasts/talking-infrastructure-podcast/

Useful links:

Masterplanning Welborne Garden Village, one of the UK’s most notable garden communities

Elizabeth Tower: restoring a national landmark

The Northumberland Line: the start of a new golden age for rail

Campus meets city: Actionable insights for place-led university estates

The infrastructure challenge behind England's housing targets

Planning Capability Statement Housing

Brookleigh, Burgess Hill: from stalled site to sustainable community

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