Sustainability Matters: Reflections from the Panel Discussion on Sustainable Communities at Cambridge Festival

Communication is key to creating sustainable communities.

That was the central message from a panel discussion held at Eddington as part of the 2025 Cambridge Festival at Storey’s Field Centre. The event brought together experts and community members to explore the ambitions and challenges of building sustainable neighbourhoods.

The discussion underscored that while sustainability requires innovation and ambition, its success ultimately depends on community engagement, education, and balancing multiple priorities. As cities evolve, fostering collaboration between experts and residents will be crucial in shaping truly sustainable neighbourhoods.

Antoinette Nestor, Engagement Manager at Cambridge Zero chaired an insightful discussion with valuable contributions from our panellists and intelligent questions on a wide range of topics, including water scarcity, power generation, building form and materiality, food security, embodied carbon, and how to engage young people in sustainability efforts. A summary of our panellists discussion can be read below:

Balancing social, environmental and financial factors

Matt Johnson, Head of Development at North West Cambridge for the University of Cambridge, emphasised the importance of the “triple bottom line”—social, environmental and financial factors —in creating sustainable communities. He acknowledged the high ambitions for sustainability at Eddington, but also highlighted the challenges, such as balancing conflicting priorities, managing the tension between adopting new technologies, and meeting project deadlines.

Designing for Today and the Future

Hero Bennett from Max Fordham consultancy outlined the three pillars guiding future development phases at Eddington: fostering healthy living, reducing whole-place carbon footprint, and designing for both present and future needs. She emphasised active travel, shared gardens, carbon reduction, and the creation of well-designed spaces to support these goals.

The Role of Food and Community Engagement

Gemma Hose from Cambridge Sustainable Food spoke about the vital role of connecting people with nature to promote well-being, strengthen community values, and enhance food security. She highlighted various educational and growing projects such as foraging and holiday lunches that are led by her charity in Cambridge that aim to embed food sustainability in everyday life.

Design, Technology and Education in Sustainable Living

Paul Mumford from Urban&Civic discussed the opportunities and challenges of designing new communities, using his development of Waterbeach as an example. He stressed the importance of sustainable travel and low-carbon solutions, while also noting that educating residents about their neighbourhoods is key to ensuring they fully benefit from the sustainable design and technology in place.

Cambridge Festival continues until 4 April 2025.