Born in 1929, Derek Walker studied architecture and planning in the UK and USA before establishing his own practice. In 1970, Walker was appointed as chief architect and planner to the new city of Milton Keynes, the last and most ambitious of the British new towns. During the eighties, Walker served as professor of architecture at the Royal College of Art and today maintains a busy international practice, based in Milton Keynes.
Geoff Shearcroft is a partner at AOC. A number of the practice's recent projects, including those for Elephant and Castle and the Wood Dene Estate, had attempted to introduce the DIY flexibility of the semi-detached house into high density city developments. In the light of Milton Keynes' recent attempts to densify its centre, Geoff and Derek talked about the continued relevance of the garden city ideal.