PhD student Lauren Piko, interviewed by Josh Allen from Birmingham in his series on urban historians, speaks about the origins of her interest in Milton Keynes and her particular approach to its depiction in British media and popular culture—specifically focusing on ideas of national decline. Lauren also reflects on the “Melbourne way” of doing history:

I think it’s very likely that my ethnographic instincts and curiosity about hidden cultural boundaries have been shaped by being based at Melbourne’s history department.