Camilla Ween is a Harvard Loeb Fellow and a Built Environment Expert at the Design Council. She is an architect and urbanist. Camilla worked for Transport for London for 11 years advising on the integration of transport with land use development and policy. She is currently a director of Goldstein Ween Architects, working on urban planning and transportation projects world-wide for public and private sector clients. She is author of ‘Future Cities’, 2014 and co-author of ‘Real Estate and Development in South America’, 2018, and is currently working on a companion volume on real estate in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as numerous articles on urbanism and transportation. She lectures regularly at universities and international conferences.

Camilla is Chair of Space Link Learning Foundation, which uses space exploration and research to enliven science in schools.

What does your job involve?

· Working on the integration of transport and land use planning, ensuring that the urban realm is attractive and sustainable.

· Researching transport related to future city growth.

· Urban and public realm design.

· Writing about urbanism and transportation.

How long have you been with Goldstein Ween

30 years.

How did you get into the transport industry?

We designed the Eurotunnel Exhibition Centre during the Channel Tunnel construction phase. I was drawn to the concept that Eurotunnel was promoting the system as ‘sustainable transport’. The concept of sustainable development and practice became my motivation.

What do you like about working in transport?

I know it is the key to our future survival – we need sustainable mobility.

What are you most proud of?

All the work I did during 11 years at TFL, when we shaped land use development in London and made London world famous for its strategic planning. Also my book, Future Cities, and the research I am doing on cities and society’s role in shaping our future.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Persuading the public that they will need to do things differently in the future.

What other roles have you had?

I developed the Central London Walking Strategy and The Business Cycle (promoting commuter cycling) in the 1990s and I worked as a project manager on a number of Millennium Projects, including the National Trust’s Millennium Project. My first job, before training as an architect, was as a science editor for an educational publisher.

What would your advice be to anyone interested in your role?

Don't ever think that transport and urban design is only a career for men! You can do it if your heart is in it.

What do you think is the best thing about a career in transport?

You will be shaping our future.

If you could change one thing about the industry what would it be?

Let’s get over the macho thing…..

How should we encourage young people to pursue a career in transport?

Show them the diversity of roles within the profession, how as a transport professional you can shape future society and above all, that it is exciting and never dull.

Tell us something people don’t know about you

I was the seventh, and the youngest, woman (I was 23) to get a helicopter licence in the UK. It was the most exhilarating thing I have ever done.