On 2 October 2025, Milton Keynes reveals a dramatic transformation to Station Square –the gateway to the city and one of the largest public-realm spaces in the UK.

British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori MBE –known for dynamic and playful work intended to foster joy, connection and conversation –is set to unveil a large-scale 2D installation that will fill the space with colour and capture the dynamism of one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK.

Inspired by Ilori’s roots, incorporating Nigerian textile patterns, ‘Walk With Your Dreams’ is a celebration of Milton Keynes’ diverse population and a tribute to the city’s visionary origins, dynamic present and ambitious future.

“With a thriving Nigerian community and growing arts scene, Milton Keynes is a location that aligns with my values of bringing art to wider audiences and to fostering connection and community. Despite the fast-paced environment of the station, I hope the artwork will inspire people to stop for a moment of contemplation and inner focus before moving on with their busy days. That’s what art can do for us –take us out of the everyday, allow us to think about things that are bigger than the self, where we come from and where we’re going, and bring us together on that journey.” – Yinka Ilori MBE

Granted city status in 2022, the largest and arguably most ambitious of the UK’s postwar New Towns is increasingly celebrated as a hotbed of enterprise (with the fourth most start-ups per capita, and productivity almost a third above the UK average), a bastion of greenery (the city is 35% green space with 22 million trees and plants), and a melting pot of culture (with 34% of the population identified as from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and a flagship annual international festival). Milton Keynes can also lay claim to a significant artistic streak, with more than 270 public artworks spread around the city, with Ilori’s set to become one of the largest.

Wayfinding art tells the story of a city

Titled ‘Walk With Your Dreams’, Ilori’s installation will set the scene for anyone stepping into the city from the railway station. For many, it will define the first impression they have of Milton Keynes. Taking the form of a bespoke 2D artwork integrated into Station Square’s new flooring scheme, the piece aims to make the expansive space more welcoming, sociable and inspiring, while reflecting the character and telling the story of the city that surrounds it.

Commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Partnership (MKDP) and Milton Keynes City Council, Ilori has taken inspiration from the symmetry and geometry of Milton Keynes’ grid system, which famously makes it one of the most navigable cities in the UK. Interpreting this through the lens of textile patterns created by the traditional Yoruban dyeing technique, Àdìrẹ, and drawing on visual references to the cultural and natural diversity of the city and its environs, Ilori is transforming the square into a colourful celebration of Milton Keynes’ 20th-century past and 21st-century present.

“To ‘Walk With Your Dreams’ is an attitude that’s uniquely fitting to Milton Keynes, whether you’re talking about the ingenuity that imagined the New Town’s development in the first place or the energy and bold ideas that fuel our thriving city today. Yinka’s artwork will be a playful way of expressing that energy and optimism and will be a fitting welcome for everyone arriving in Station Square, the gateway to our city centre.”–Councillor Shanika Mahendran, Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, Milton Keynes City Council

The installation is woven with diverse motifs, including: flowers, referencing the surrounding beauty of nature as well as the transition of dream to reality; beams of light, representing power and progress; circles, embodying unity, connection and community; and, of course, a spectrum of vibrant colours.

The title of the work references the pragmatic but utopian vision that underpinned the New Town movement of the mid-1900s, and the ambition to city status that has driven Milton Keynes since it was first designated in 1967 –and which was achieved in 2022.

More prosaically, ‘Walk With Your Dreams’ also refers to the artwork’s role in pedestrian wayfinding. An important part of MKDP’s briefwas the need to help direct those unfamiliar with the city to the twin set of underpasses that lead from Station Square to Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes’ central artery. Ilori’s design supports wayfinding by visually reinforcing the walking routes tothe city centre.

“Yinka has an exemplary record of developing and delivering exceptional public realm works which respond to place, community and context. This project is about setting out what people can expect from Milton Keynes –Yinka’s work will be a great introduction to our thriving, young, innovative, diverse and sustainable city and the vibrancy, enthusiasm and biodiversity that people experience here.”–Adam Sciberras, Special Projects Director, Milton Keynes Development Partnership

Framed in seasonal colour

‘Walk With Your Dreams’ will be complemented and framed by a bold and colourful planting scheme created by landscape architects Planit. Designed to maintain visual interest throughout the year, the planting features an array of flowering species in a prairie-style arrangement, chosen for their aesthetic appeal, biodiversity benefit, and low-maintenance requirements. These include delicate flowers such as greater meadow-rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium) and wand flower (Dierama pulcherrium), long-lasting colour from red bistort (Persicaria amplexicaulis) and Echinacea ‘Guava Ice’, and structural elements from grasses and evergreens such as swete box (Sarcococca confusa) and Turkestan feather grass (Stipa turkestanica).

“Yinka’s work is so energetic, we wanted planting that would hold its own in regard to the vibrant, choreographed colour. The natural banking allows the planting to create a backdrop that frames the central artwork, while wrapping the space in swathes of colour.”–Frankie Smith-Morris, landscape architect, Planit

Every change of season will bring new plants and colours to the foreground. Early spring will see extensive bulb planting populate the beds with scatterings of pastel shades, whereas summer will be characterised by rich herbaceous planting. Autumn and winter will see flowering species alongside the structural stems and seed-heads of spent summer flowers, retained for their interest and value to local wildlife.

October launch and city programming

‘Walk With Your Dreams’ will be installed in Station Square throughout the summer, and will officially launch on 2 October, with a free opening event on Thursday 2nd October.

Local people are invited to join us between 4.00pm and 7.30pm for music, dance and performances.

In partnership with the African Diaspora Foundation, four local schools in central Milton Keynes and Milton Keynes Arts Centre, the launch will coincide with a series of free family-friendly creative workshops inspired by the design. Full details of workshops and events will be published in late summer.

The ‘Walk With Your Dreams’ installation will remain in place for at least five years, maintained by funding from MKDP and Section 106 public art contributions.