KMA welcomes Emma Churchyard to the team

Emma Churchyard has joined Kevin Murray Associates as an Urban Design and Planning Assistant. She is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde, with an MSc in Urban Design, and an alumna of Syracuse University, New York, where she gained a BA in Public Policy. Her specialist interests lie in urban regeneration, cultural infrastructure and community-led development.

Kevin Murray stated that ‘Emma will add important design flair and enhance KMA’s analytical capability in urbanism, as well as provide excellent interpersonal skills in our community and stakeholder work. We are delighted she has joined our team.’

In her masters’ research, Emma developed a masterplan for the regeneration of the Shawlands neighbourhood in south Glasgow, to encourage active travel, sustainable living, use of event and entertainment space, and to transform the neighbourhood into a more vibrant destination within the city.

Emma wrote her dissertation on cultural infrastructure, and how to employ this as a tool for the regeneration of peripheral high streets. She devised a cultural infrastructure framework using case studies from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Glasgow, Scotland; and Auckland, New Zealand.

Within KMA, Emma is already focused on a broad range of projects, including a mixed-use innovation district in Oxford, public space options for a neighbourhood in Glasgow, a repositioning strategy for Inverness, and a keynote housing development in Newcastle’s waterfront.