
Samuel I. Schwartz, P.E.
Chief Executive Officer + Founder
Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants
United States of America
Mr. Schwartz is CEO of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. He also writes a column on traffic for The New York Daily News. Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner and was the Chief Engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971. Mr. Schwartz, often referred to by his nom de plume “Gridlock Sam,” released the word “Gridlock” into the lexicon during the 1980 NYC Transit strike.
Mr. Schwartz’s most recent books, No One at the Wheel: Driverless Cars and the Road of the Future (2018) and Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and The Fall of Cars (2015) lay out a recipe for cities faced with rapid changes in modes, automation, demographic shifts and travelers’ preferences. He has long highlighted the inextricable link between public health and transportation and has been a member of the International Professional Association for Transport & Health (IPATH). He is the principal author of Public Transit and Covid-19 Pandemic: Global Research and Best Practices.
Mr. Schwartz has been an adjunct professor for 40 years at some of New York City’s most respected colleges and universities including Cooper Union, Long Island University, Hunter College and Brooklyn College. He is a Charter Board Member of the Institute of Design & Construction (IDC) Innovation Hub at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, Dept. of Civil & Urban Engineering. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Brooklyn College and received a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Florida.
Chief Executive Officer + Founder
Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants
United States of America
Mr. Schwartz is CEO of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. He also writes a column on traffic for The New York Daily News. Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner and was the Chief Engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971. Mr. Schwartz, often referred to by his nom de plume “Gridlock Sam,” released the word “Gridlock” into the lexicon during the 1980 NYC Transit strike.
Mr. Schwartz’s most recent books, No One at the Wheel: Driverless Cars and the Road of the Future (2018) and Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and The Fall of Cars (2015) lay out a recipe for cities faced with rapid changes in modes, automation, demographic shifts and travelers’ preferences. He has long highlighted the inextricable link between public health and transportation and has been a member of the International Professional Association for Transport & Health (IPATH). He is the principal author of Public Transit and Covid-19 Pandemic: Global Research and Best Practices.
Mr. Schwartz has been an adjunct professor for 40 years at some of New York City’s most respected colleges and universities including Cooper Union, Long Island University, Hunter College and Brooklyn College. He is a Charter Board Member of the Institute of Design & Construction (IDC) Innovation Hub at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, Dept. of Civil & Urban Engineering. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Brooklyn College and received a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Florida.
ICTH Global South

Lake Sagaris, BFA, MSc., PhD
Researcher and Associate Professor
Investigadora y Profesor Asociado Adjunto
Depto. de Ingeniería de Transporte y Logística, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable (CEDEUS), BRT Centre of Excellence
Asesora Urbana Ciudad Viva
Chile
Lake is an internationally recognized expert on cycle-inclusive urban planning, civil society development, and participatory planning as they relate to urban-regional governance. In 2019, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (GTZ, ITDP, others), recognized her as a Remarkable Woman in Transport.
Lake uses participatory action research and community-government partnerships in Santiago and Temuco (Chile) to explore how relatively simple programs can address the complexities of changing human behavior and systems toward more socially just and sustainable ways of life. Working with colleagues in India, Europe and North America, she defined sustainable transport as “ecologies of modes and actors”, integrating gender, health, safety and security issues. Her Kool Routes to School program, introduced significant innovations to North American “Safe Routes” programs, through co-design with local planners, children and school communities, as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to physical activity, social and civic apprenticeship in vulnerable areas. As the Covid19 pandemic imposed lockdowns, she and her team created a Kool Neighborhood version, combining artistic and active transport activities for children, including bike mechanics for girls, with safe spaces for socializing among parents and older adults. These experiences have led to scientific recognition and awards in Chile and abroad, participation in a UN Expert Group meeting on sustainable transport, and presentations in in Latin America, Europe, Canada, Taiwan, the US, and India.
Researcher and Associate Professor
Investigadora y Profesor Asociado Adjunto
Depto. de Ingeniería de Transporte y Logística, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable (CEDEUS), BRT Centre of Excellence
Asesora Urbana Ciudad Viva
Chile
Lake is an internationally recognized expert on cycle-inclusive urban planning, civil society development, and participatory planning as they relate to urban-regional governance. In 2019, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (GTZ, ITDP, others), recognized her as a Remarkable Woman in Transport.
Lake uses participatory action research and community-government partnerships in Santiago and Temuco (Chile) to explore how relatively simple programs can address the complexities of changing human behavior and systems toward more socially just and sustainable ways of life. Working with colleagues in India, Europe and North America, she defined sustainable transport as “ecologies of modes and actors”, integrating gender, health, safety and security issues. Her Kool Routes to School program, introduced significant innovations to North American “Safe Routes” programs, through co-design with local planners, children and school communities, as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to physical activity, social and civic apprenticeship in vulnerable areas. As the Covid19 pandemic imposed lockdowns, she and her team created a Kool Neighborhood version, combining artistic and active transport activities for children, including bike mechanics for girls, with safe spaces for socializing among parents and older adults. These experiences have led to scientific recognition and awards in Chile and abroad, participation in a UN Expert Group meeting on sustainable transport, and presentations in in Latin America, Europe, Canada, Taiwan, the US, and India.

Geetam Tiwari, PhD
TRIPP Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi, India
Geetam has extensive research experience in dealing with transportation issues of special relevance to low income countries. These include development of bus systems and road designs that would make transportation efficient and safer. She has been working in the area of traffic and transport planning focusing on pedestrians, bicycles and bus based public transport systems. Some of her projects include Development of a Bicycle Masterplan for Delhi, analysis of traffic on Indian Highways, crash analysis on rural and urban roads, public transport planning. She has published over 70 research papers on transportation planning and safety in national and international journals, peer reviewed seminar proceedings and edited four books on transportation planning and road safety.
Geetam received the International Velocity Falco Lecture Prize in Barcelona, the Stockholm Partnerships award for local impact, innovative thinking and a potential for replication or transferability, the Centre for excellence grant from Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), and the Prince Michaels award for promoting road safety research. She earned a B. Arch form the IIT Roorkee and Master of Urban Planning and Policy and Ph.D. in Transport Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, she is TRIPP Chair Professor for Transport Planning at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Adlerbretska Guest Professor for sustainable urban transport at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
TRIPP Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi, India
Geetam has extensive research experience in dealing with transportation issues of special relevance to low income countries. These include development of bus systems and road designs that would make transportation efficient and safer. She has been working in the area of traffic and transport planning focusing on pedestrians, bicycles and bus based public transport systems. Some of her projects include Development of a Bicycle Masterplan for Delhi, analysis of traffic on Indian Highways, crash analysis on rural and urban roads, public transport planning. She has published over 70 research papers on transportation planning and safety in national and international journals, peer reviewed seminar proceedings and edited four books on transportation planning and road safety.
Geetam received the International Velocity Falco Lecture Prize in Barcelona, the Stockholm Partnerships award for local impact, innovative thinking and a potential for replication or transferability, the Centre for excellence grant from Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), and the Prince Michaels award for promoting road safety research. She earned a B. Arch form the IIT Roorkee and Master of Urban Planning and Policy and Ph.D. in Transport Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, she is TRIPP Chair Professor for Transport Planning at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Adlerbretska Guest Professor for sustainable urban transport at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.