Magic Moment: After planning school, my (unexpected) first job was in industrial policy, which made me think about the connections between economic drivers, urban change and city planning – a theme that is still central to my work today as a city planner.

Key Influence: I’m indebted to writers, thinkers and analysts who help us understand fundamentally how and why cities change and evolve the way they do, often in ways that aren’t so obvious – urbanists like Jane Jacobs, David Harvey, Michael Storper, Donald Shoup and many others.

Next Big Challenge As An Industry: In the last few years, we’ve entered a time of unprecedented technological, social and economic change, fundamentally reshaping how our cities are growing and evolving. We need a really good understanding of these drivers in order to develop effective, new and improved planning, policy and other responses to keep our cities livable, sustainable and productive.