DG Cities is looking forward to exhibiting at and attending Housing 2025 in Manchester next week. With a packed programme and a range of pressing issues on the agenda, there’s plenty to engage with. Here are some of the themes we expect to cover, our ‘don’t miss’ panel and some tips on navigating the event from our behavioural science experts…

Against the backdrop of the government’s Spending Review, which includes a pledge of £39 billion over ten years for social and affordable housing, and Labour’s ambition to deliver 1.5 million new homes, we anticipate significant discussion to be focused on how local authorities can turn policy into delivery. The role of data and AI in enabling this – in a way that is ethical, effective and resident-focused – will likely be a big conversation.

We know that delivery isn't just about volume and planning. We're expecting wider discussion around how councils can manage and improve existing housing stock. One area we expect a lot of interest is data-driven asset stewardship: using insights from repairs, EPCs, in-home sensors and AI – as explored in our Home by Home plan – to take a more proactive approach to stock maintenance.

With that in mind, one session we’ve underlined in our diaries is the panel at 11am on Thursday, which brings together private and public sector experts. It features Jamie Carswell (Director of Housing and Safer Communities at the Royal Borough of Greenwich), journalist Pete Apps, Tom Robins of Switchee, and Hyde’s Anjali Manoj Kumar. Their discussion is set to focus on the opportunities of tech solutions, the challenges of fragmented IT systems, siloed budgets and what it takes to implement a more holistic, resident-first strategy.

We expect digital inclusion and ethical innovation to be discussed – not as ends in themselves, but as essential tools to build trust and deliver real value to residents. As always with our work, the goal isn't flashy new tech, but tangible impact.

What would your residents want to see there? Build rates, while critical, are only one part of the picture - we’re there for the retrofit and everyday repairs.

Equally pressing are issues like damp, decarbonisation and long-term investment in existing stock. It’s here that the Spending Review’s potential must be fully realised – not just through capital spend, but by enabling local authorities to scale practical, ethical, people-led innovation.

Other likely focal points include the role of planning, new initiatives like Andy Burnham’s Good Landlord Charter and the challenge of aligning local strategies with central funding mechanisms. Across affordability, homelessness, planning and retrofit, we expect one question to surface repeatedly: how do we ensure this once-in-a-generation investment actually works?

We believe one part of the answer lies in embedding data systems and resident-centred innovation within council delivery frameworks. In turning the data we have into action. To show our approach in practice, DG Cities will also have a stand in the exhibition space, so we’d love to see you there. Full event details can be found here.

Best conference behaviour

We also know from experience that conferences of this scale can be overwhelming. To help navigate the event, we asked our Behavioural Innovation team for some insights from psychology that might support delegates and exhibitors alike.

As Dr Lara Suraci, our expert in behavioural science, explains: “Often, the myriad of choices – of which talks to attend, whom to talk to, what questions to ask – can lead us to fall into so-called epistemic bubbles: environments that expose us only to ideas that already align with our own knowledge or beliefs.”

“Add to that the pull of social proof and the subtle influence of consensus cues: we tend to assume crowded sessions or well-known speakers must be the best use of our time, and we mistake certain social signals, like nodding heads or silence, for collective agreement within the audience – all of which makes it harder to think independently, and to challenge our own ideas as well as those of others.”

“It’s also worth bearing in mind that speakers at conferences, as well as audience members interacting with them, often attend as representatives of their companies or ideas, with the ultimate goal of promoting these in some way. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it can lead some to overfocus on signalling intelligence or domain expertise, rather than imparting factual knowledge or encouraging an exchange of diverse perspectives.”

Her advice for getting the most from the week?

“Watch out for these patterns of behaviour in yourself and others, and try to break them: go to a session that sounds unfamiliar, engage with someone outside your usual network, and don’t hesitate to ask challenging questions!”

See you in Manchester!