Climate Resilient New Towns: A Vision

Headline: A rare vision of a brighter future in the face of climate breakdown, one that should be embraced, shaped by people, and put into practice.

Review Article: Climate Resilient New Towns: A Vision

The Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) · June 2026 · Free

Themes: Healthy Towns · Climate Resilience · Sustainability · Vision

A long-term vision is a bit of a rarity these days, despite it being a thought-experiment that is most essential and urgent. I would argue that many of the world’s challenges of right now, would seem like “no brainer” decisions when looked at from a long-term perspective and what the outcomes might entail.

In this article, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have put forward a positive visioning statement for their ‘Climate Resilient New Towns’ – a solution to the short-termism focus of today. It begins by sharing a ‘postcard from the future’, from ‘New Mablethorpe’ of 2100 – telling the story of a hilltop town, with reforested hills, shady walks through town, a people-centred town square, public transport and well-insulated, and designed buildings. The document goes through a range of specifics on how the town would overcome local climate challenges, mainly through the Garden City Principles, tightly linked to the TCPA’s heritage.

At Tranquil City, we’ve always aimed to have a hopeful view of the future in our towns and cities. To celebrate the good, promote more of it, and push things in a brighter direction. This document feels like a little sparkle in the rough at this moment in time, and we need more of it.

Key elements of the vision are outlined below:

• The vision puts ‘health and play’ into the heart of the development – active travel, easy access to health services, spaces to play, leisure facilities and nature engagement.

• Nature will be on everyone’s doorstep, with access to a private garden and within a short walk to a larger park, and more natural spaces on the outer boundaries/corridors to support biodiversity.

• Streets will promote play, community and food growing – creating well-connected and accessible social and communal spaces that are calm and easy-to-navigate.

• Transport will prioritise a hierarchy of active first, public second, shared private electric car third. Everything in the town is built around a 15-minute walk or cycle, with shared carpools available.

• Building designs meet the highest possible energy efficiency standards (such as Passivhaus), reducing heat gains, heated/cooled using reversible heat pumps, and powered by community energy infrastructure with battery storage to reduce inconsistencies. It outlines that homes will meet TCPA’s Healthy Homes Principles.

• Food security drives the town’s layout, with communal vegetable beds, gardens, allotments and market gardens providing space to grow. It’s not clear whether it’s expected that the town will be self-sufficient or if it will still rely on other deliveries from elsewhere.

• Shading and water cooling is consciously designed throughout the town to combat 40 degree summers (in 2100), via tree-lined streets, shades and shelters, as well as water features, misters and lakes and ponds.

• Streets will also prioritise permeable materials, with the use of concrete and tarmac limited, to reduce heat island effect and also to slow water run-off and reduce flood risk.

• A key element is the fact that the town’s location will be determined by global heating impacts, particularly flooding. This, acknowledging the forecast rise in sea levels rise and how it will impact the UK, is a stark reality we should be planning for when thinking about home building, especially where they have lifespans of 50+ years. The document advocates for how landscape management, restoring or mimicking natural water courses and working with wildlife, can best protect towns from flooding, in areas still at risk.

What this document does well is set out, quite simply, how the New Climate Resilient Towns can deliver a multitude of benefits, improving quality of life substantially. On the other hand, it does appear to be focused on smaller towns, those with new buildings stocks and those with somewhat a ‘blank slate’. It mentions that instead of spending money on building flood defences in areas that are battling with environmental impacts, money is best spent in building good quality homes for people in places away from such risks. This logic I understand, and building new towns from scratch may very well be needed in some parts of the country due to climate impacts and displacement. However, it overlooks a large majority of buildings that will need to be adapted instead, which will be a whole lot messier. The sceptic in me would question this vision’s feasibility, given the limited success of Garden Cities in the past.

But visions are meant to be put forward, challenged, picked apart, and made stronger as a result. Those visions that give us a sparkle in the eye will hopefully muddle their way through to reality somehow. This is the messy bit of the process, but a crucial one, where a vision is given to the people and the people make it their own. I just hope that the authors of this vision, will allow such a vision to be pulled through the mud a little bit, and made better through public discourse, to help inform a brighter world.

Author: Grant Waters, Director, Tranquil City.

Date: 4th October 2026