Aswathy Dilip
Senior Programme Manager
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Aswathy Dilip is a Senior Programme Manager leading the Complete Streets strategy, policy, and projects work for the ITDP India Programme. With support from her smart and enthusiastic team, she works with the National, State and City governments; providing them technical assistance on sustainable and equitable urban mobility.
Her most exciting work includes transforming congested roads into vibrant streets with space for all users, helping cities implement bold parking reforms, and building support for high-quality, sustainable mass transit. With a keen interest in citizen engagement, Aswathy has organised Car-Free Sundays, intersection design testing, as well as street and public space exhibitions. Currently, she leads the team working on preparation of Complete Streets toolkit for the National Smart City Mission. She is also actively involved in training and capacity development of city officials, engineers and town planners in Complete Streets and parking management.
Prior to joining ITDP in 2014, Aswathy spent four memorable and formative years in Ahmedabad working with Dr. Bimal Patel and his team at HCP, on the design and communication of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project. She is an urban designer from Cardiff University, UK with Bachelor’s in Architecture.
Aswathy believes in the simple joys of life. Ordinary yet uncommon sights—such as children playing carelessly, elderly chit-chatting joyfully, and women travelling confidently—in public spaces of our cities make her smile. Through her professional endeavour, she strives to create more such settings to allow many more such heartening experiences.
Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman
Manager: Transport Systems
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Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman works as Manager -Transport Systems, in charge of public transport system and TDM. He has over a decade of experience in Traffic & transportation engineering, technology, and planning, as well as road safety.
He obtained his master’s degree in urban engineering with a specialization in transportation from the College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai. Before joining ITDP, Siva was working with Directorate of Urban Land Transport as a Sr. Transport Planner and Anchor for Traffic, Transportation & ITS Vertical. He has experience in working closely with National, State and City government, Citizen forum and external funding agencies (World Bank, JICA, LTA etc.); providing them technical assistance on sustainable mobility.
His experience includes projects such as ITS master plan for Bangalore & Mysore, congestion pricing scheme for Bangalore, common mobility card for Bangalore and implementation of projects like BRTS in Hubli-Dharwar and public bicycle sharing system.
Siva is passionate about sustainable transportation system, child-friendly transport networks, road safety, and street for enhancing livability of our cities.
M Faraz Ahmad
Research Associate-Transport Planning
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A Transport Planning Research Associate at the ITDP India Programme, Faraz provides technical input to the Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Jharkhand and Ranchi Municipal Corporation. His work primarily concentrates on developing safe, sustainable, and inclusive transportation systems. This, he believes, can be achieved through better street designs and transportation initiatives.
He is responsible for developing full-scale project plans and coordinating with various stakeholders, including government officials, to build broad support for sustainable transport initiatives.
Faraz majored in Architecture from National Institute of Technology, Patna and did his Masters in Infrastructure Systems, specialising in Transportation, from IIT-Roorkee. Inclusive Street Design is his forte and as a part of his thesis, he developed a complete street design for MG Road, Delhi, in consideration with all guiding parameters and global best practices.
Pranjal Kulkarni
Research Associate-Urban Development
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Pranjal started working with the ITDP India Programme in 2016 and is involved in various urban development projects like Complete Streets, Cycle Sharing systems, Parking management, and Transit-Oriented Development.
An Architect-Urban Designer from Mumbai, Pranjal completed his Master’s in Urban Design from C.E.P.T. University, Ahmedabad, in 2016 and his undergraduate degree in architecture from National Institute for Technology, Nagpur, in 2013. As part of his Master’s thesis, he was involved with the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and Ministry of Nepal (MoUD) for the project ‘Post-Earthquake Reclustering of Settlements in Kathmandu-Nepal’ and continued his work till the completion of the manual. He, later, worked as an architect for two years at architectural consultancy firms in Mumbai.
His interest lies in designing and planning for sustainable architectural and urban scale projects. Pranjal enjoys trekking in the mountains, travelling, reading, and sketching in his spare time.
Parin Visariya
Research Associate-Urban Development
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Parin is an Urban Development Associate for the ITDP India Programme. A flaneur, he believes that the best way to experience a place is walking on its streets and traveling through public transport. He believes that a good and safe walking environment is the birth right of every individual and cities that prioritise pedestrians in their urban planning, design, and policy making are most liveable and progressive.
His key area of work at the India Programme includes aiding government officials implement high-quality walking and cycling infrastructure in urban areas. Parin has been working in close collaboration with the Indian Roads Congress for over two years, primarily working on developing national-level guidelines for non-motorised transport design and implementation.
Before joining ITDP, he worked as an architect and urban designer on a variety of institutional, housing, public building, and street design projects. He enjoys marathon running and everything that makes him stay healthy and happy. He has studied architecture from Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, Mumbai and further pursued urban design from CEPT University, Ahmedabad.
Santhosh Loganaathan
Research Associate-Urban Development
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Santhosh Loganaathan’s engagement with the ITDP India Programme began in 2014, when he came on board as a consultant and supported the Programme in documenting their Complete Streets work in Chennai. Having spent numerous days documenting the streets, he was inspired by the change he saw on the ground. Understanding the organisation’s role in creating better cities, he joined the team in 2017.
Santhosh is avidly involved in expanding the Complete Streets work across cities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He supports the team in staffing, documenting projects, and assisting capacity development workshops.
Prior to joining the India Programme, Santhosh was a professional photographer. He used his knowledge of architecture to photograph the built space in all their aesthetic beauty and glory.
A certified Scuba diver, Santhosh spends most of his weekends either swimming or fishing in the Bay of Bengal, or helping out at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust; that is, when he’s not travelling or binging on Netflix.
Vaishali Singh
Research Associate-Urban Planning and Design
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Vaishali started working as a Research Associate for ITDP India Programme in 2018. Since joining ITDP, Vaishali has assisted in various urban development projects focusing on review of master plan and zonal plans, Transit-Oriented Development, Complete Streets and assessment of accessibility to public transport in various Indian cities.
She holds a Master’s in urban planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and an undergraduate and Master’s degree in Geography from the Delhi University. Vaishali aspires to combine her expertise in both schools to help cities develop into sustainable future habitats. As part of Master’s thesis, she was involved in urban sprawl mapping and its cost-benefit analysis.
Being a long-time public transport user, Vaishali is well-aware of the issues that plague the transport sector and advocates the need to strengthen public transport and walking-cycling facilities.
Away from work, she is an avid techno-geek who likes to explore new technology and software to bring in new dimensions to her work. When she is not working, she likes reading novels, watching movies, and playing strategic games.
Naveenaa Munuswamy
Research Associate-Urban Development
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Naveenaa joined ITDP India Programme in 2018 as a Research Associate. She is actively involved with expanding the Complete Streets project and conducting the ‘Smart Cities through Smart Streets’ workshops across cities in Tamil Nadu. .
She recently graduated as an architect from M.S.A.J.A.A, Chennai, with a B.Arch. Her inclination to study and work on urban issues started during her internship with the organisation, during which she worked on implementing and designing Complete Streets in Chennai.
She is extremely passionate about built-heritage and has conducted heritage walks as part of conservation measures under the “Houses of Mylapore” project.
Suraj Bartakke
Senior Surveyor
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Suraj works as a Surveyor and Data Entry Operator with ITDP on various transportation programs in Pune. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts (General) and has completed his Industrial Training Institute Course of ‘Computer Operator’, both from the Pune University.
Prior to joining the ITDP India Programme in April 2011, he worked with the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation as a Computer Operator. Suraj enjoys playing cricket and reading.
Anuj Dhole
Research Associate-Transport Planning
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Anuj is a Research Associate-Transport Planning, who joined ITDP India Programme in September 2018. He focuses on providing technical inputs for framing policies, mobility planning, prioritising, and assessing public transport networks. A philomath, he is constantly striving to further research in the field of sustainable mobility.
Anuj is an Architect-Planner, who completed his Master’s of City Planning (MCP) from IIT-Kharagpur in 2018 and Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from Pune University in 2015. As part of his post-graduate thesis, he worked with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on the research project: ‘Service Level Optimization between public bus and paratransit services along a transport corridor’.
At home, you will find Anuj on his favourite bean-chair, reading about diverse topics, especially tech. He is also an amateur guitarist, who enjoys photography and numismatics.
Aishwarya Soni
Associate- Technical Communications
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Aishwarya is a Technical Communications Associate at the ITDP India Programme, and has been involved in creating compelling and creative communications for the Complete Streets project. Being a visual storyteller, she uses graphic design as a tool to educate, inform and activate the community, about matters pertinent to sustainable urban transportation. She loves to explore new cities on foot and using public transit, and believes that the ease of mobility through these two modes largely determine how people-centered the city is. Prior to this role, Aishwarya spent about four and a half constructive years as an Architect in Bangalore, and brought to life more than a dozen buildings, of varied typologies and scale. Outside of ITDP, she is a Campaigns, Communications & Outreach strategist for Make a Difference, an NGO that works towards empowering children in need of care and protection. In her spare time, she likes to design board games, illustrate poems and write short stories.
A V Venugopal
Research Associate- Urban Development
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Archna Menon
Associate- Strategic Communications
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Archna Menon is the Associate for Strategic Communications and Development at ITDP. As a storyteller passionate about cities, Archna loves to build narratives around the urban life and people in it. Her work at ITDP involves working closely with the program team, on all outreach efforts. Her work revolves around designing user behavior research, media relations and digital media strategy and management. Through her Bachelor’s in Architecture- at School of Architecture and Planning (SAP), Anna University- she developed a passion for city news, stories and design. This lead to her winning competitions at the national and international level, and kick-starting a regional newspaper that focused entirely on urban news, stories and design of Chennai. To take this passion further, she completed her Masters in Journalism at Cardiff University, UK. These diverse experiences have enabled her to take her love for cities further, through her media and communications work at ITDP.
Outside of work, Archna loves food, travel and photography.
T D Achuthan
Fellow- Complete Streets
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Achuthan is a fellow at the ITDP India programme since Febraury-2019, and has been involved in supporting Complete Streets programme in Chennai. He documents and analyzes impacts on street through surveys and photo documentation. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Anand School of Architecture. He gradually developed a passion towards urban design during his fourth year of college and continued to improve his knowledge on the same. He explores how transit corridors stitch the urban fabric together. Being an architect keenly inclined towards sustainable development, he explores and experiments with various possibilities in achieving sustainability in mobility. He loves to cycle and trek during leisure time. He is also good at penning Tamil poems.
Keshav Suryanarayanan
Associate – Content Creator
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Keshav joined the ITDP India Programme as Associate – Content Creation in July 2019. Growing up in 5 cities across India, he has always been fascinated by cities, language and travel. An architect by training from the School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Keshav focuses on writing as his process to explore ideas. After graduating , he worked on a regional newspaper focusing on urban design and news in Chennai as a way to engage with the city building process. To further develop his writing and expand the range of topics he can explore, Keshav joined the Young India Fellowship, a Post-Graduate Programme in Liberal Studies at Ashoka University. He brings his experience at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, travel and journalism to the communications team at ITDP. In his free time Keshav enjoys reading, writing poetry and singing.
Bala Nagendran
Intern- Urban Development
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Bala Nagendran M joined the ITDP India Programme as an Intern – Urban Development in August 2019. He works on TN Non-motorized Transit Master Plan Programme. He holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and an undergraduate degree in Architecture from the School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai. He has always been passionate about studying cities in relation to transit for the unique opportunities it brings up in an urban landscape. Bala’s graduate thesis explored the opportunity to restore and activate River Cooum, Chennai through integration of NMT corridors and open space network. Apart from work, Bala loves food and movies.