Reena Mahajan, Urban planner, designer and advocate for sustainable development

Reena Mahajan, Urban planner, designer and advocate for sustainable development

From ProGRESS by Host Sandra F

August 2, 2025 · 31 min · Season 5 · Episode 9

About this episode

Reena Mahajan discusses her journey as an urban planner and advocate for sustainable development, sharing insights on gender-responsive design and community engagement.

Drawn to both science and the arts when she was at school, Reena Mahajan’s studies and work took her to three continents. She studied architecture in New Delhi before moving to Paris to study urban planning and sustainable development. When she moved to Uruguay, she broadened her horizons and studies into gender responsive design and children-friendly planning. Now a strong advocate for sustainable development, women’s mobility, social impact and gender equality – among other things – Reena founded Studio Divercity , with a mission to transform car-dominated urban areas into people-centric spaces. She recently set up StreetSmart , a digital platform that enables communities to reimagine their streets and environment, and she has joined the contributors to Lab of Thought, a Netherlands-based organisation set to transform urban environments.  So far so stellar – so what's next? She has some brilliant advice for anyone searching for values-led employment and says optimism comes from action, even if it's small. Read more... Mentioned in this podcast Prof Dr Marco Te Brömmelstroet and the Lab of Thought The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo Other episodes to listen to: Sanjuktar…

People in this episode

Host: Sandra F

Guest: Reena Mahajan

Topics covered

  • sustainable development
  • urban planning
  • gender equality
  • social impact
  • community engagement

Keywords

  • urban planning
  • sustainable development
  • gender equality
  • community engagement
  • design

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lab of Thought

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