About this Event
Now in its fourth year, Birmingham Settlement's Neighbourhood Futures Festival brings together people to celebrate nature, to share, learn and reconnect.
Brought to life by Birmingham Settlement and 40+ local partners, you’ll find a packed programme of thought-provoking activity, workshops, conversation and creativity to support urban wellbeing and tackle climate challenges at a local level.
This free 3-day festival takes place 26th-28th June 2026 at the Birmingham Settlement Nature & Wellbeing Centre - a tranquil urban oasis next to Edgbaston Reservoir.
This year, the Neighbourhood Futures Festival is focused on local action and urban green spaces, with people of all ages are warmly invited to join, experiment and take action to discover how our shared spaces can support healthier, fairer and greener urban futures.
Power in Place: Friday 26 June
A day of growing, connecting & reclaiming our urban green spaces.
A welcoming gathering for community groups, green and growing spaces and anyone interested in greening their street or neighbourhood in Ladywood and beyond.
Join us surrounded by trees and birdsong for an inspiring day of connection, practical ideas and creativity to explores futures where everyone - people and nature alike - belongs.
The day begins with a deep dive into place-based climate action, shining a light on the inspiring work already happening across Ladywood and Birmingham - from community gardens and bold initiatives for greener streets, to grassroots organising, micro-movements, hands-on experimentation and community-led change.
Gather around the campfire as our speakers share their journeys of starting and sustaining shared green spaces, the challenges faced and the ideas that worked.
Grab lunch from the Red Shed Community Café and explore drop-in activities throughout the afternoon - stay for the whole day or simply dip in as you please.
Later, we warmly welcome everyone to a friendly community picnic - share food, try hands-on activities, music and play – a relaxed space to celebrate local creativity before the fullness of the weekend.
It’s a day to share learning, showcase what's working, spark collaboration, generate practical ideas and find mutual support - or simply to step back from the busy world and take time to connect!
What to expect
We'd love you to spend the whole day with us, or alternatively drop-in to the activities that interest you!
10.30am-11am: Coffee & Calm
Start the day with relaxing yoga or mindfulness in the beautiful surrounds of nature or enjoy a quiet coffee on the terrace.
11am-11.50pm: Green Connections with (Neighbourhood Network Scheme)
Do you run green or nature activities - or want to start? Thinking about improving a local green space, sharing ideas or meeting like-minded folk? Join the Ladywood NNS team for a green networking session connecting local groups growing greener neighbourhoods together.
11am-2pm: Friends of the Field: Community Compost Build
Our Friends of the Field volunteer group meets every Wednesday and Friday to help care for our 3-acre space. Drop in and get hands-on helping to co-build new compost bays for community composting - reducing waste and supporting growing across the site.
12pm–1.30pm: Campfire Conversations
Inspiring stories from the people, organisations and groups regreening with and for communities - from allotments and community gardens to planters, pop-up growing and acts of guerrilla gardening in neglected urban corners. Hear reflections, lessons and practical ideas from those taking grassroots action across Birmingham and beyond.
Featuring speakers and contributors from: Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF), St Germains, SPECTRA, Warm Earth, Grand Union, Birmingham's City of Nature Alliance, Community Medicine Birmingham, Nottz Garden Project plus more TBC.
- What’s already growing in Birmingham?: Inspiring work is happening across Ladywood and Birmingham. Through shared stories and conversation, gather round the campfire as our speakers share their journeys of starting and nourishing green and growing spaces: what has worked (and what hasn’t!) and what they have learned along the way.
- Tales from Another City: In conversation with Nottz Garden Project, a Nottingham-based CIC on a mission to reclaim green spaces with communities so that people of all class and culture can experience horticulture.
- Tiny Gardens Everywhere: Explore how balconies, window sills, containers and street planting can support biodiversity, wellbeing and community connection - and how small-scale growing contributes to the region’s wider Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
1.45pm-2.15pm: A Walking Lunch
Enjoy a guided tour of Birmingham Settlement’s Nature & Wellbeing Centre. Hear how we have developed our 3-acre site for people and nature, explore our community growing and wellbeing projects and learn about practical climate action – from composting and rainwater harvesting to solar power.
2.30pm-3.15pm: Navigating complex systems: Q & A
From access to land and funding to permissions, partnerships and community ownership structures - we take a grounded, honest look at what can make community-led greening challenging and the support out there.
3pm–6.30pm: Neighbourhood Picnic & Play
We warmly invite friends and neighbours to join us for a community picnic on the field! Bring a blanket and your choice of food or grab something from the Red Shed Community Cafe, meet neighbours, drop-in to activities, enjoy the space and relax!
- Sports activities and games on the field for all ages
- Inclusive nature activities and crafts - make a seedbomb, sow and grow!
- Plant with Pat - a friendly beginners growing drop-in. Even if you’ve never grown anything before, Pat will show you how!
- Guided walk around Edgbaston Reservoir with Friends of Edgbaston Reservoir - find out more about this Friends group.
- RECLAIM! Co-design your dream community garden using found and recycled materials.
- Film screening with Greenpeace Birmingham: The People’s Emergency Briefing
- Campfire Open Mic: Neighbourhood Voices - stories, poetry, music and conversation around the fire, and close.
Who is it for?
Power in Place is for community groups and organisations both with and without a green space, community gardens and growing spaces of all shapes and sizes as well as residents and anyone interested in bringing more nature, connection and climate action into their street or neighbourhood.
You don't have to already be doing it - come along to be inspired and find the support and inspiration to get started!
We also welcome councillors, funders, local businesses, investors and commissioners to join us to see the power of local.
Children and their families are very welcome throughout the day. While the talks and workshops are primarily aimed at adults, our green space can be enjoyed by everyone!
We have a small children’s play area plus sports and games will be available on the field. More dedicated family activities begin from 3pm, as well as throughout the weekend Play & Discovery Days.
Power in Place celebrates the work being done by the people across our neighbourhoods: the change that happens not because the system makes it easy, but because people care enough to make it happen anyway.
It’s what is happening despite limited funding, the structures that don’t always make space for communities and the decisions being made far from the streets and neighbourhoods they affect.
It’s driven by people who care deeply about fairness, justice and the places they live - who are organising, growing, reclaiming and creating change from the ground up - putting community power into place.
About Birmingham Settlement charity
Birmingham Settlement is one of the city’s oldest charities, supporting communities since 1899. Founded by social reformers outraged by the poverty of the19th century, our early work focused on women and families in the deprived St Mary’s area, now known as Newtown.
Today, our work is much broader to meet the changing needs of Birmingham’s communities. Whether its ising living costs, cuts to local services and increased inequality, our work helps people when they need it most - providing advice, opportunities, and welcoming spaces where no one has to go it alone.
About the Nature & Wellbeing Centre next to Edgbaston Reservoir
In 2021, Birmingham Settlement began transforming a three-acre green space beside Edgbaston Reservoir. It has since become our Nature & Wellbeing Centre - a safe, accessible and inclusive green space for nature, social connection, and improving community wellbeing.
Facilities include a warm and welcoming Community Café (fondly known as the ‘Red Shed’), two geodesic learning domes for nature connection, an amphitheatre for arts and performance, community composting, grow plots and open green space for physical activity and play.
Everyone can enjoy and be part of our community, with a particular focus on Ladywood and North Edgbaston and serving communities that lack access to safe green space, that are isolated, facing financial challenges, and with physical and/or mental health needs.
Our unique spaces can also be hired for community and corporate events.
We always keep our activities and events free so they are accessible for everyone. If you are able to make a small donation to our charity to help keep the festival open to all and to support care of our site, we would really appreciate it.
Partners & sponsors
The Neighbourhood Futures Festival is delivered in partnership with many other passionate, environmentally-conscious organisations, community groups, artists, educators, wellbeing providers – far too many to mention here but we are eternally grateful to you all!
We are so grateful to our 2026 festival sponsors for helping us to make the festival happen. Thank you to our Friday supporter this year:
)for their generous support.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Birmingham Settlement Nature & Wellbeing Centre - Ladywood, 79 Selwyn Road, Birmingham, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
