While still on the drawing board, planners noticed that the planned main streets in the proposed city centre would almost frame the rising sun on Midsummer's Day.

[8][b] This story has become embellished over time and, according to subsequent reports, they consulted Greenwich Observatory to obtain the exact angle required at the latitude of CMK, and persuaded the engineers to shift the grid of roads a few degrees in response.

Among the features of the park is a belvedere with extensive views over Bedfordshire to the east and the Light Pyramid, a modern beacon.

[15] Marlborough Street (V8, B4034) runs in a cutting through the ridge, bridged by a redway (shared path) between the main centre and the park.

The retail district includes thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place (the covered high streets that are the Central Milton Keynes shopping centres).

[20] The theatre has an unusual feature: the ceiling can be lowered closing off the third tier (gallery) to create a more intimate space for smaller-scale productions.

The domed Church of Christ the Cornerstone, law courts and police station are in the business district, beside the small linear Fred Roche Gardens and Grafton Park that provides its core.

This ecumenical church, the first such in the United Kingdom, is shared by the major Christian denominations to serve the office workers and the small resident population.

The complex includes two high-rise hotels and a number of residential and office towers set around a central piazza.

Its height, also a major departure from the original low-rise design, makes it the third tallest building in Milton Keynes, beaten only by the 14-storey Xscape and the 18-storey Mellish Court in Bletchley.

This is similar in height and layout to the Hub but features a large Sainsbury's supermarket taking up the lower two floors with a rooftop garden above it.

[22] Cranfield University and the Milton Keynes City Council are partners in a detailed proposal to establish an undergraduate campus, code-named MK:U.

[23][24] The plan anticipates opening by 2023,[24] with a campus in the block contained by Grafton Street / Avebury Boulevard / Witan Gate / Childs Way.

[citation needed] The upstairs level of the bus station (formerly a night club) accommodates a young peoples' facility, 'the Buszy'.

The former England National Hockey Stadium was located on a site to the north of the station, surrounded by a number of important retail units.

[1] For the 2001 Census, the Office for National Statistics designated an urban sub-area that it called "Central Milton Keynes".

Locations around Central Milton Keynes were used for the movie Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, where it played the part of the United Nations building.

Recognisable locations include Milton Keynes Central, CBX and the Argos (now Home Retail Group) building on Avebury Boulevard.