Ankita Chachra

About Ankita Chachra

Ankita is committed to creating sustainable, just, and vibrant cities for young children and families. She has over ten years of global experience working on her mission through partnerships with city agencies and the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors. Until recently, Ankita worked as the Knowledge for Policy Director at Bernard Van Leer Foundation. She led a multi-functional team responsible for sharing tools, knowledge and resources for advancing early childhood policy that supports the healthy development of young children and the well-being of caregivers in cities.Ankita found her passion for prioritizing the needs of children and caregivers in urban environments while leading the Streets for Kids Program at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), where her team published the guide on Designing Streets for Kids. At GDCI, Ankita addressed street and public space challenges and her work focused on design implementation, capacity building, and applying strategies for creating safe and healthy cities. She worked under Bloomberg\'s Initiative for Global Road Safety, primarily in Latin America and Asia. She was also part of the core team that developed the Global Street Design Guide, the first-ever worldwide guideline for designing city streets. Trained as an architect and urban designer, Ankita’s previous experience includes working on residential, mixed-use, and transit-oriented urban planning projects in India, China, Malaysia, and the United States. Ankita completed her Master\'s in Urban Design from Columbia University and her Bachelor’s in Architecture from the Sushant School of Art and Architecture.

Experience

1. Speaker

   Women And Climate

   May 2023 — Present

Education

• Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

  Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), Architecture

  2006 — 2011

• Sushant school of Art and Architecture

  Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), Architecture

  2006 — 2011

• Columbia University

  MS Architecture and Urban Design, Urban Design and Architecture

  2012 — 2013