London Festival of Architecture: take a hot-ticket tour of London's biggest regeneration zones - King's Cross and Nine Elms

The London Festival of Architecture, running throughout next month, will this year be the greenest yet, as architects put more planting into planning.

If architecture is your passion, this is an unmissable festival. There are more than 200 events, most of which are free, including 50 architects’ open studios.

Guided walks are among top attractions, including a hot-ticket tour of King’s Cross. There are great talks about housing, too, whether social, communal, co-operative, or affordable.

The Association of Vertical Gardens will discuss growing food on buildings, while a new city farm is unveiled, built on wasteland. You can also help an artist erect a building and there are special events aimed at children. Here are our top picks. Find all the details and book at the London Festival of Architecture website.

King’s Cross Renaissance
27 May, 4 June, 25 June, 10am-12.30pm 
This long guided talk takes in the area’s astonishing transformation with 30 new buildings alongside 20 historic ones, plus new squares and streets, reinvigorated canalside, cafés, and much more. Cost: £25.50.

A Narrative of Place: Housing for a Sustainable Community
3 June, 5pm-8.30pm
Hosted by Proctor and Matthews Architects of SE1, with 25 years’ experience, this exhibition explores the nature of sustainable housing and how it is created.

The Street Strikes Back
8 June, 10.30am-11.30am
Architect Peter Barber, who favours dense, low-rise terrace housing, talks at Dulwich Picture Gallery SE21, as part of the How we are Housed lecture series.

Affordable for Whom?
14 June, 7pm-8.40pm
Architects’ Role in the Housing Crisis is debated at the Royal Institute of British Architects in Portland Place W1, speakers to be confirmed.

Shoreditch Architecture Surgery
16 June, 9am-6pm
Finkernagel Ross architects opens its new E1 offices. You can book a 30-minute one-to-one consultation about a project. A £25 donation to Shelter housing charity is suggested.

Talk and Walking Tour of Nine Elms Park
17 June, 3pm-5pm
Explore Nine Elms linear park running from Vauxhall to Battersea Power Station. The event starts in SW8, ending in the Ambassador Building’s first-floor garden, with views of the new US Embassy. Places limited.

Den Day
18 June, 10am-4.30pm
An event for children in which they can have fun building their own cardboard shelters at RIBA.

Open Gardens Estates
18-19 June
Organised by Architects for Social Housing, this event is at multiple locations, with housing estates across London showing off their best gardens. Architects, gardeners and locals will be running the various sites. Check the website for details.

Architecture Taster Open Studios
23 June, 3pm-6pm
Big EC1-based company Allford Hall Monaghan Morris says come and have a go, do some drawing, see if architecture is for you. For 15 to 19 year-olds.

Agritecture Collaborative Design Workshop
24-25 June, 1.30pm-7pm
The US-based Association of Vertical Farming holds its first ever UK two-day workshop at the Cass School of Architecture in E1.

Bedford House Open Studios
25 June, 11am-4pm
Three prestigious NW1 practices at the same address open their doors: Cousins & Cousins, David Kohn, and Niall McLaughlin.

The People Build
25 June, noon-9pm
Help French artist Olivier Grossetête put up a building in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20, in this event organised by Greenwich + Docklands International Festival.

Co-Working and Co-Living
28 June, 4pm-7pm 
Architects talk about this growing phenomenon, hosted by EC1-based The Trampery, developing London’s first co-living complex, in Hackney Wick.

Raise the Roof at Oasis Farm, Waterloo
25 June, noon-4pm
Two charities are turning a strip of disused land into a farm, helped by young architect of the year-winning practice Feilden Fowles. Find the farm at 18 Carlisle Lane, SE1.