The Podcasters
Sathya Sankaran
Sathya is a Computer Science graduate with a Post graduation in Public Policy. He brings more than 25 years of experience in using technology and data to solve transportation problems. Over the last 13 years, as an advocate for sustainable transportation he has been a part of bringing in Rs. 34,000 crore Suburban Rail services to Bengaluru. He is the architect of AltMo, a gamified mobility intelligence platform for the future of climate friendly cities. The data from this platform enabled a 342% increased allocation in the Comprehensive Master Plan for cycling and walking, helped put up more than 20 kms of cycle tracks in Bengaluru and won Silvassa Smart City an award for Excellence in Innovation. He founded Council for Active mobility, a collective of 13 organisations working towards accelerating UN SDG's. His Relief Riders initiative during the COVID pandemic won the 2021 UN World Bicycle Day Special Award and nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also an adjunct faculty teaching Urban Governance for masters students, a director at the waste management startup, Bioman and the Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru.
Sonal Kulkarni
Sonal has a Bachelors in Architecture and Masters in Policy & Urban planning from University of Southern California. Over the past 10 years she has worked extensively in the government on infrastructure for sustainable mobility. She architected, designed, coordinated and executed the Smart Cities Mission's award winning cycling infrastructure in Bengaluru. She has architected and designed bicycle sharing system in Bengaluru. She has conducted feasibility, designed and executeed pilot interventions of slow streets. She has been a part of many community outreach programs like the longest running Open streets campaign in the country, Cycle Day. She has played a key role in bringing to the city UMI award winning Church Street First, a fully pedestrianised street in the CBD of Bengaluru. Her passion for sustainability has made her step back into the government for a while. She currently serves as the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the Directorate of Urban Land Transport.
Knerav Kodolikar
Knerav has a Bachelors in Economics from Christ University, Bengaluru. He conceptualises and builds economic incentives for sustainablity projects at Urban Morph. He is also technology developer building the AltMo platform. AltMo is the official platform for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Smart City Mission's, Cycle2Work and Freedom2WalkCycleRun challenge. He rides for Equipe Goa amatuer racing team and at the National Championships.
Welcome to the OoruLabs podcast. Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems. This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability!
The goal of OoruLabs is to enable an ordinary citizen to understand urban issues better. A lot of our opinions and solutions stem from very minimal information of how the world of decision makers work. The challenges they go through and the politics of change that affects implementation of many well meaning solutions. WhatsApp forwards from unknown unverified sources are hardly a way to be informed of these issues.
The ability of our urban areas to develop sustainably involves the complex interplay of government, markets and society. Each with their own complexities and motivations. The podcast is an attempt to discover the sweet spot in this balance by talking to people from across these sectors.
At the end of each podcast episode, we hope you will be able to take away something you didnt know before watching it. Eventually we hope you will be able to stitch different opinions and evaluate for yourself when making up your mind on any solution to a problem. Happy watching.