Milly joined our Town Planning team in 2023. Her academic background is interdisciplinary, encompassing city planning, urban design, social sciences, and humanities.
This varied education has given her a strong interest in the social dimensions of urban development; specifically with regards to how development processes can be socially and economically inclusive, alongside being environmentally sustainable.
Alongside her role with us, Milly currently works one day per week as a Research Assistant for the Trusting Communities: Principles of Community Ownership and Stewardship project at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL.
Biggest career influence?
After finishing my undergraduate degree, I worked for a food co-op which supports agroecological farming in the place where I grew up. We worked in a huge range of areas, from developing procurement processes and producing research papers, to hosting community engagement dinners. My then-boss and now-friend India Hamilton had an incredible way of totally disregarding the typical boundaries of projects. Working with her really opened my eyes to the importance of big picture “systems thinking” when trying to understand complicated problems and bring about any kind of social change.
What’s the greatest invention ever?
Either a bike or a boat.
Best book you’ve read?
I absolutely loved Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits.
Interesting fact that nobody knows about you?
My great-grandpa was a man called James Blyth, and was supposedly the first person to convert wind energy into electricity using a home-made turbine in his garden in Scotland.
Where do you see your career taking you?
Alongside my role at Stride Treglown, I also work as a Research Assistant at the Bartlett School of Planning on a project looking into community ownership structures across a range of assets such as land, housing, and energy. I’m really enjoying the mixture of working in practice, research, and directly with communities and would love to keep this balance going in future.
Industry bodies
- RICS and RTPI accredited MSc Urban Design and City Planning