Natalie Cho

Natalie is an urban and community planner passionate about creating equitable places. Before her master's in Building and Urban Design in Development at UCL, she worked for a First Nation community in Canada to further its Comprehensive Community Plan initiatives, including community engagement and strategic planning for the community’s census and its first multi-family housing project. In addition, she worked for a Canadian municipality, reviewing planning applications and conducting research to inform policy decisions, as well as drafting a new zoning by-law.

Outside of work, she volunteers for Women Transforming Cities, an organisation focused on investigating systemic barriers through an intersectional feminist lens and highlighting women-friendly cities.

London Borough of Croydon

As part of the Associate Programme, Natalie was matched with the role of Senior Project Officer at the London Borough of Croydon. Her work centred on managing Croydon's Place Review Panel and working on the Design Review Panel (DRP) launch. The launch involved planning and preparing for the two briefing days, which provided the panel members with an overview of the borough and further understanding of the development/placemaking context, as there had been various changes in the borough since the initial PRP launch. The materials she helped produce for the briefing days included a briefing pack with key developments in the town centre and a wider borough walking tour document. Aside from the DRP, she also provided design advice on planning applications.