OUR MISSION
SUSTAINABLE AND GENDER EQUITABLE CITIES
Our mission is to ensure that the path towards urbanization is sustainable and gender equitable.
We focus on integrated transport systems, city planning, public space design, and institutional strengthening.
OUR APPROACH
RESEARCH, TOOLS, CAPACITY
We bridge the gap between research and practice, technical capacity and implementation to achieve gender equitable cities and transport.
We co-create knowledge to inform policies and sensitize, increase awareness, provide hand holding support and build capacity within the ecosystem.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SONAL SHAH
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Sonal is the founder of The Urban Catalysts. She is a multi-sectoral professional driven by the goal of catalyzing sustainable, gender equitable transportation and cities. She has over 18 years’ experience and is responsible for introducing a gender perspective in India's URDPFI guidelines - a first for the country. She was a key contributor to the urban street design guide for the Indian Roads Congress.
Sonal has led projects ranging from multi-modal integration plans, transit-oriented development, road safety and complete streets. She has also led projects in India, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East on integrating a gender perspective in city planning and transport.
Sonal completed her graduate education in urban planning from Columbia University, New York, where is she was featured in the Alumni Spotlight in Fall 2013-14. She was also featured in the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative's Remarkable Women in Transport 2020 and was a recipient of The Coaching Fellowship 2022. .
SUPRIYA THYAGARAJAN
DIRECTOR
Supriya Thyagarajan is the Managing Principal and Board Director at Perkins Eastman. In a country where less than one third of the workforce is comprised of woman, Supriya champions design excellence as an architect and unparalleled professional leadership. With more than 15 years of experience working in India and the United Kingdom, she brings expertise in higher education and planning to projects with major clients across Southeast Asia and globally.
Supriya has been instrumental in the growth and success as Managing Principal of Perkins Eastman’s Mumbai studio. In her spare time, Supriya enjoys driving through bustling streets of the city and the mountains of India.
PAWAN KUMAR MULUKUTLA
DIRECTOR
Pawan Mulukutla is the Director of Electric Mobility Program under Sustainable Cities at WRI India. Here, he is responsible for overall strategy, creating and maintaining delivery of research projects, stakeholder engagement and partnerships, work plan development and fundraising.
Pawan has over 18 years of experience in the urban mobility ecosystem. Prior to joining WRI India he worked at Bosch for close to two years setting up the “e-micromobility connected solution” program including development of business model, deployment of the solution with cloud-based backend for performance measurement and analytics. In the past, Pawan worked with WRI India in Mumbai and Bengaluru offices for seven years. During this time, he managed the Bus Karo Program, co-created innovative platforms like Station Access & Mobility Program (STAMP) and Better Bus initiatives. Prior to moving back to India in 2012, he worked in the US for a decade with more than 20 cities on multiple topics ranging from Multi-modal Integration, Transit Planning, Long Range Transportation Planning, among others.
He holds a degree in Advanced Management Program from Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, a master’s in Transportation Engineering and Planning from Clemson University, South Carolina, USA and a bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India.