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The Panasonic Trust Awards
Antonio Nunes – MSc Urban Studies, University College
London
 I
developed a keen interest in cities and urban design working as a Transport
Consultant at Alan Baxter, a practice of designers for the built environment
based in London. I had previously gained a first degree in Industrial
Engineering and Management, which provided me with a sound analytical skill
set. But as my career developed in movement and transport in the urban
environment, I felt that I lacked an interdisciplinary theoretical
understanding of how cities work in general, particularly the socioeconomic
and political aspects of urban development and regeneration projects I was
often involved with. I also wanted to gain a broad academic background in
urban planning and design, improving my skills in street and public realm
design.
I was very excited to find out about the new MSc course in Urban Studies at
UCL, which would provide me with the exact sort of theoretical knowledge I
was looking for in order to complement my predominantly analytical
engineering background. I attended modules in several disciplines as part of
the course, ranging from social sciences to urban design, and developed
complementary skills to those I gained from my first degree. Now that I have
been awarded the Masters degree, I can confidently say that I am in the
privileged position of having a set of skills that allows me to bridge a gap
between transport planners and urban design practitioners.
Having this unique combination of skills will certainly enable me to
accelerate my professional development. More importantly however it provides
me with additional confidence and adds value to the advice I can offer as a
consultant to our clients. I am therefore very grateful for the support I
received from the Panasonic Trust, which allowed me to pursue this
additional and truly valuable academic qualification.
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