We are pleased to introduce our new Otium team member, Aditi Karande, who has joined our NSW office as a Senior Consultant.

Aditi started her career as an architect, studying and working in architectural firms in India and gaining experience across all aspects of the profession. However, she discovered that while architecture focuses on the building itself, her interest developed in urban design and the spaces and areas in and around the building – the neighbourhood, the streetscape, the character of an area and how the streets tell a story about their evolution.

This passion brought Aditi to Australia to study Urbanism, enabling her to combine design and planning and to develop an overall view of an area, whether it is local, regional or a city. She also felt that it was an excellent opportunity to learn from global trends outside her home country. Post-study, she worked in local government, with roles in Urban Analytics and Social Infrastructure Planning. Before joining our team, she worked as a Recreation and Open Space Planner for Liverpool City Council.

Aditi believes that urban planning provides a strategic perspective to current and future land use as well as conservation of our built and natural environment, and that understanding existing and future community is key to every aspect of urban design and planning.

Managing Director, Kate Maddock, said, “We are excited to welcome Aditi to our team and look forward to building and growing relationships across the sport and recreation industry in NSW. With her experience in local government, education, and private practice, Aditi brings extensive design and urban, open space and social infrastructure planning skills to our team.”

On joining Otium, Aditi said, “Having worked with Otium team members on projects in my previous role in local government, I was drawn to work for Otium because of the importance the team places in research and understanding trends and the impact this has at a project level, and across the open space and recreation planning industry. I’m very grateful to now be a part of this highly qualified organisation.”

Aditi can be contacted by phone on 0402 143 414 or (02) 8029 0275 or by email at aditi@otiumplanning.com.au.