Profile
Urban Planner & Architect
- Email: tsharma@alum.mit.edu
I am dedicated to designing open spaces and infrastructure that improves people's lives and experiences, builds resilience against natural disasters, and respects natural environments.
Through my practice, I seek to further equitable planning processes and multidisciplinary collaboration in order to shape socially- and culturally-responsive urban areas.
I approach urban solutions from the watershed scale to the architectural scale, equipped with my architecture license, flood mitigation experience, and passion for natural and built ecosystems.
Resumé
PDF Version: Download here
Basic Information
Tanvi Sharma
+1 832.794.2759
tsharma@alum.mit.edu
Texas Architectural License: 27093
Education
Master City Planning
Expected June, 2021
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Bachelor of Architecture
May, 2015
Rice University
Bachelor of Arts in Architecture
May, 2013
Rice University
Publications & Presentations
Smiley, K., Sharma, T., et al.
"More Inclusive Parks Planning: Park Quality and Preferences for Park Access and Amenities"
2016
Environmental Justice
Instant Impact in Small Towns
2017
Presented for Houston-Galveston Area Council's Instant Impact Workshop
Skills
Languages
English, fluent
Hindi, fluent spoken
Spanish, basic
Mandarin, basic
Software
Adobe Suite
ArcGIS & QGIS
Rhinoceros
V-Ray Rendering
Basic Coding (Python)
Basic HTML
AutoCAD
Revit
Professional Experience
Associate Urban Planner at Sasaki
10.2022 - Present
Denver, Colorado
As an urban planner for University of Louisville's campus master plan, conducting historical research, demographic and DEI analysis, and summarizing student, faculty, and staff engagement responses.
Project manager for commercial master planning project in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Senior Urban Planner at Parsons
06.2021 - 10.2022
San Francisco, California
As a member of a two-person project management team, coordinated subconsultant and client meetings for several SFPUC flood management projects including creating new flood maps for the city, managing a Floodwater Grant program update, piloting a voluntary buyout program, community engagement, opportunities analysis and urban design proposal for several high risk areas within the city.
Performed data analysis to systematically evaluate and make recommendations from several landscape design iterations for a particularly floodprone corridor affecting primarily low-income and people of color in San Francisco. Proposed solutions included spatial design elements, housing policies, infrastructure upgrades, and parcel acquisition.
Put to gether new proposed eligibility requirements and program terms for the city’s $1.5 million Floodwater Grant program, as well as created a graphic guidebook to help owners select the best floodproofing options for them.
Summarized spatial and tabular data on property buyout cost-benefits to assess need for a buyout program in San Francisco. Also working on creating a prioritization methodology for properties that are eligible for a buyout.
Translated hydrology and hydraulic model outputs to GIS environment and 3D modeling software for engineering informed urban design proposals.
Coastal Resilience Fellow at Climate Ready Boston
02.2021 - 05.2021
Boston, Massachusetts
Researching and thinking through prioritization and implementation in relation to community engagement for East Boston and Charlestown neighborhoods.
Teaching Assistant for East Boston Practicum
01.2021 - 05.2021
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Planning syllabus and each class around urban planning in the East Boston neighborhood, focused on coastal resilience and equitable planning for underserved residents.
Leading tutorials in design and mapping software such as Adobe and GIS.
Architect & Site Planner for Malden River Works
09.2019 - 12.2020
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Planned and facilitated kick-off public meeting to solicit feedback on citizens’ priorities for this site. Created presentation and handout materials, collected data, and summarized findings.
Developed a site plan with elevated park, reorganized Public Works operations, and green infrastructure components including bioswales and bioretention pond.
Completed and won multiple grant applications to fund design development and construction phases of this project.
Architect & Urban Planner at Huitt-Zollars, Inc.
07.2015 - 04.2019
Houston, Texas
- Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium
- East Metro Strong Bus Network Redesign
- Dallas Street Design Manual
- City of Denison Comprehensive Plan
Facilitated conversations among leading research institutions and local non-profits to produce documents that disseminate information to policy- and decision-makers as well as to the public.
Wrote content, created diagrams, and developed fact sheets, briefing documents, and final reports as a member of the project management team at Huitt-Zollars.
Handled all project scheduling and communication directly with clients, researchers, and public relations consultants.
Researched and analyzed opportunities for increasing ridership, equity, and efficiency within the bus network around Saint Paul, MN. Proposed strategies to improve reliability and coverage such as route restructuring, adding Bus Rapid Transit, and expanding the rail network.
Produced maps and analyzed demographics, job densities, existing network frequencies, coverage, and access in ArcGIS to determine appropriate areas for system improvement.
Consolidated Dallas’s 1993 street design manuals and national best practices into the new Dallas Street Design Manual. Incorporated the city’s comments and feedback into the final draft of the manual.
Created the Future Land Use Map and Thoroughfare Map for City of Denison.
Organized and conducted public and Task Force meetings to understand the priorities of the residents. Documented and analyzed meeting results to create vision and goals.
Researcher for Houston Action Research Team (HART) at Rice University
08.2014 - 05.2015
Houston, Texas
Designed and conducted over 400 in-person surveys of park users in low-income neighborhoods to guide Houston Parks and Recreation Department’s Parks Masterplan. This research led to the Environmental Justice journal article, “More Inclusive Parks Planning.”
Portfolio
Selected Works: Download Here.
- Complete Works
- Resilience
- Site Planning
- Land Use
- Transit
- Architecture
- School Works
Papers & Presentations
Future Flood Mitigation in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Master's Thesis, 2021
This case study of forward-looking flood mitigation planning in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, offers an analysis of how their success was achieved and what other communities and national agencies can learn from their work.
More Inclusive Parks Planning
Environmental Justice, 2016
This paper documents and discusses over 400 in-person surveys conducted with people of color in low-income neighborhood parks and what their responses taught us about preferences in park planning.
Instant Impact in Small Towns
Presentation, 2017
This presentation provides a high level guide on creating instant impact in small towns, using my firm's experience working in towns in Texas.