Principal Specialist, Standards of Practice

Ankita Nalavade is an urban sustainability and resilience expert with an architectural background. Nalavade’s experience working in two major metropolitan cities such as Mumbai and New York, with complex systems and infrastructure, has helped her develop a distinct understanding of how cities function as part of the built environment. This unique experience helps her to carve out solutions for the continued growth of cities in the face of climate change. Currently a Principal Specialist in Resilient & Sustainable Engineering at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Nalavade leads the development of sustainability and resilience standards for PANYNJ capital projects, ensuring infrastructure design aligns with national best practices and emerging climate goals. She also serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute, where she teaches courses on sustainability indicators.

What motivated you to serve on the Envision Review Board?  

“I began my career in sustainability and resilience by working on projects with Envision, so the opportunity to contribute to the next iteration of the framework is particularly meaningful to me. Envision guides the integration of sustainability and resilience throughout the project lifecycle while enabling interdisciplinary teams to collaborate around shared goals and metrics. Having worked across municipal agencies, the port authority, and academia, I’ve seen firsthand how critical it is to have standardized frameworks that align diverse perspectives around shared resilience and sustainability objectives. Envision does exactly that—it creates accountability while fostering innovation.”