During the COVID pandemic the importance of green spaces in urban areas for our personal health and wellbeing, and that of the communities we live in, became widely appreciated. But faced with increasing biodiversity loss and the climate emergency, how do we ensure that when designing parks and gardens we are maximising the beneficial properties of plants for people and the other species we share our cities with. Cityscapes Director and SGD Council member, Darryl Moore, will discuss recent projects, ideas from his book Gardening in a Changing World, and ways of working with plants to create green spaces that support diverse urban ecologies and help us address the critical challenges we face.