Uttara Ramakrishnan

About Uttara Ramakrishnan

Urban design strategist with 10+ years of experience shaping how cities are planned, built, and experienced across public and private sectors. My work focuses on aligning policy, design workflows, and stakeholder systems to deliver long-term, scalable impact in the built environment.I operate at the intersection of built-environment systems and product thinking, mapping end-to-end processes, identifying structural inefficiencies, and translating complexity into intuitive tools and implementation frameworks.With experience spanning municipal leadership and global design firms, I connect the dots across architects, planners, engineers, consultants, and civic institutions — ensuring ideas move from vision to execution in ways that are coherent, adoptable, and future-ready.

Experience

1. Urban Designer Policy Planner

   City of Berkeley

   Nov 2023 — Present · Berkeley, CA, US

   Design Strategy & Project Management-Led a corridor upzoning initiative to meet the City’s housing element goals-Led city-wide community workshops to engage stakeholders and gather insights-Created a strategic social media framework that boosted diverse engagement and awareness of city initiatives-Simplified complex policies into user-friendly forms and visual tools-Spearheaded Planning Division rebranding, to create a brand that resonates within the department and externally with the community.

Education

• The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture

  Master of Architecture - MArch (Urban Design)

• Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies

  Bachelor’s Degree

• Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

  Master's degree

• Tongji University

  Exchange Program