Emily Tadgell

MSc City Design and Social Science (2021)

My MSc has instilled confidence in design as an evidence-based tool to enhance access and connectivity, improve health and wellbeing, and address inequalities. I left LSE equipped with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for design.

Tell us about your journey since graduating from LSE?

I started my career as one of 18 Healthy Streets Officers at Sustrans (now known as the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust). The Healthy Streets programme embedded officers within each London borough to deliver behaviour change initiatives aimed at increasing the number of people walking, wheeling and cycling. I was fortunate to be placed with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, where I incorporated findings and insights from my LSE research project on the gender gap in cycling in Hammersmith. Within a year, I learned a great deal about EDI in transport from colleagues and council initiatives, and I was keen to put that knowledge into action through infrastructure projects.

Following the end of the Healthy Streets programme, I was offered an internal Project Officer position within the Neighbourhoods & Networks team, where I worked to deliver accessibility improvements on the National Cycle Network. This offered an opportunity to build project management skills while gaining exposure to the diverse career paths in sustainable transport. As a Project Officer, I was also seconded to Lambeth Council, where I helped facilitate community engagement for the rollout of permanent low-traffic neighbourhoods.

After two years with the WWCT, I started looking for a role in local government with a longer-term career trajectory. I ultimately decided that transport planning (a specialism within town planning) offered the best opportunities to foster my interests in micromobility, urban inequalities and project management. I joined Southwark Council’s Development Management team as a Transport Planner, where I was focused primarily on assessing planning applications against the council’s local development plan and transport strategy.

While I continue to assess a wide range of development proposals, my current role as a Senior Transport Planner has evolved to include a significant focus on project management. I work with teams across the council to coordinate the release of S106 funds (developer contributions) for transport projects, including walking and cycling infrastructure, Healthy Neighbourhood schemes and bus improvements. I’m enjoying the diversity of work and looking forward to seeing some development and highways schemes come to fruition.

You’ve built your career in transport planning within local government and charity. What initially drew you to this field, and how did your interests develop after LSE?

I grew up in a car-dependent suburb of Toronto, Canada, where options for safe, active and sustainable transport were limited. As I began travelling during summers as an undergraduate student, I experienced reliable, affordable transport networks, and extensive, safe cycle infrastructure in towns and regions much smaller than my own. It quickly became clear how detrimental car dependency is to quality of life, general well-being and equity in cities – this was a catalyst for pursuing a career in city design.

Back in Canada, I was studying Interior Design for my bachelor’s degree. The focus of the programme was on iterative thinking, socially responsible design and technical proficiency. While I enjoyed the challenges of working through the design process, I found myself continually drawn to the ‘bigger picture’ of cities and the systems within them. With my travel experience and design skills, I decided to apply for the MSc in City Design and Social Science at LSE. I was confident the programme would allow me to fill critical knowledge gaps while retaining the technical and conceptual focus of my undergraduate degree.

I studied my MSc during the height of COVID-19 social distancing measures. In London, pandemic measures included an extensive rollout of temporary cycle lanes to reduce crowding on public transport. My dissertation was inspired by the infamous removal of the protected cycle lane on Kensington High Street, which I had personally relied on to get to campus. The resulting social and political fallout forced me to reflect once again on equity in transport and, more specifically, my own experiences as a female cyclist in a vulnerable space. I decided to focus my research on closing the gender gap in cycling, using my home borough of Hammersmith and Fulham as the study site.

Since graduating, I have developed interests in transport accessibility, behaviour change (as it relates to modal shift) and transport infrastructure projects, ranging from end-of-journey facilities to regional engineering projects. My position within Southwark Council’s structure allows for a multifaceted approach to tackling transport challenges, combining soft and hard measures to achieve a safer, more equal environment for residents.

How has your MSc in City Design and Social Science shaped your approach to transport planning and urban policy?

The programme’s interdisciplinary nature and focus on collaboration have positively shaped my approach to transport planning and urban policy. My cohort comprised recent graduates and professionals in a wide range of fields, many of whom wouldn’t be traditionally associated with planning or city design. I quickly learned the value of diverse backgrounds in the planning process during studio-based learning and reading discussions, where my peers from more unconventional backgrounds provided fascinating insights into urban processes and current events. Being open to alternative perspectives is a crucial skill for public sector employees in the UK, who are bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty. In planning, this means we must always analyse the impacts of a scheme or policy on individuals with protected characteristics.

In recent years, transport interventions have attracted intense scrutiny from the public. This was evident during my time at Lambeth working on community engagement for low-traffic neighbourhoods, where there was strong opposition to public spending on design. The general scepticism towards local improvements and the resulting resistance from politicians makes it difficult to challenge the status quo. This can be discouraging, but my MSc has instilled confidence in design as an evidence-based tool to enhance access and connectivity, improve health and wellbeing, and address inequalities. I left LSE equipped with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for design.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received?

The best piece of career advice I’ve received is not to be afraid to branch out, academically or in your career. You may not always feel qualified in a conventional way for a particular role, course or activity, but it’s important to remember that urban planning is extremely complex and demands diverse skill sets and knowledge bases. Because of that, transferable skills can be very impactful in planning and policy development.

What is your fondest memory from LSE?

Due to the constantly evolving COVID restrictions during my MSc, much of my course took place online. However, our professors made sure this didn’t impact the quality of our course or our ability to learn from the urban environment around us. I have great memories of our many socially distanced visits to Whitechapel Market in Tower Hamlets, the site of our group studio project.

In light of the global pandemic, my cohort’s group project focused on the urban infrastructures of care and health in Tower Hamlets. My group identified Whitechapel Road Market as a non-institutional, socio-spatial entity that mediated care through the built environment and its people. It was fascinating to experience the market’s practices, relationships and challenges through the lens of my group members, who hailed from several continents and diverse academic backgrounds.

What advice would you give to current students?

My advice to students considering a career in public-sector (or third-sector) planning is to start developing local knowledge of the places where you’d like to work. Engage with this knowledge in your work at LSE, either through your course essays or dissertation. Having a thorough understanding of demographics, development history, and local challenges – and the ability to devise solutions aligned with development plans – is a significant advantage in an interview or job application.