Akshali Gandhi
| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program |
| Project Title: | Designing Safe Streets for Children in Indian Cities |
| Field of Study: | Urban Planning |
| Home Institution: | At-Large, Seattle, WA |
| Host Institution: | COEP Technological University, Pune, Maharashtra |
| Grant Start Month: | August 2023 |
| Duration of Grant: | Nine months |
Brief Bio:
Akshali Gandhi is a senior transportation planner for King County Metro in Seattle, Washington. In this capacity, she has worked on bus-stop improvements, capital planning, parking policy, mobility hubs, and bicycle/pedestrian paths across the Puget Sound region. Earlier, Akshali was a consultant for Nelson\Nygaard’s Washington, D.C. office and a transportation planner for the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In total, she has seven years of professional work experience in the transportation planning field.
Akshali holds a bachelor’s degree in community and regional planning from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University. She is Indian American and has published research on economic development challenges along commercial corridors in immigrant neighborhoods, with a focus on Devon Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Akshali is passionate about pedestrian safety, street design, and urban mobility for vulnerable users.
Traffic fatalities are a leading cause of death among young people in India. As a transportation professional, Gandhi is interested in researching the role street design and public space interventions play in road safety for infants, children, and caregivers. A new program in Pune retrofits urban streets into pedestrian zones for children to walk, bike, and play. For her Fulbright-Nehru project, Akshali is conducting a public life study of selected road safety projects to monitor how children and caregivers use such street interventions. Working with the Institute for Transportation Development and Policy India (ITDP India), she is compiling her findings into a case study and toolkit of best practices to share with planners and policymakers.