Avanish Pendharkar
Center Head and Principal Researcher
Avanish is the Center Head and Principal Researcher of CUPP. An urban planning and development professional with over 20 years of experience on a variety of project types for public and private sector clients. He has worked on large-scale master plans and infrastructure development, urban design, urban redevelopment, regional plans, policy studies, and provided subject matter expertise on large programme management mandates.
His work with marquee planning and design firms like Glatting Jackson, HOK and CH2M Hill comprises of international projects like Atlanta’s first ever Transportation Vision Plan, the New Campus additions to the King Saud University in Riyadh, TOD projects like the North Corridor Commuter Rail for City of Charlotte, NC, USA, Rockhill to Charlotte transit study, NC USA, and projects within the City of Atlanta’s Livable Cities Initiative program, amongst others.
In India since 2010, Avanish has advised the DMICDC on their plans for new industrial cities in Dholera SIR and DNGIR. He has also worked on the plan implementation of the 40 sq.km Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Township at Aurangabad in India besides policy and advisory services for various development plans and master planning for new towns and neighborhoods.
He has a Masters Degree in City & Regional Planning from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, USA, a Masters Degree with specialization in Urban Design from SPA, New Delhi, and a B.Arch from Mumbai. Avanish is Certified Planner (AICP), a member of the American Planning Association, and a registered architect in India. He is a recipient of the Charles Brown Fellowship in 2003 at Georgia Tech, and is an alumnus of the prestigious J.N.Tata Endowment fellowship from 2002.
