Lakshmi is an urban planner focusing on land use, urban design design, community engagement and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Her work includes planning approvals and policy analysis concentrating on social housing. Before SvN, Lakshmi gained experience digitizing spatial data for environmental and reclamation research, facilitating community-led land and street-use mapping. She has also co-created a website to generate cartograms from spatial datasets and to mobilize knowledge of complex data visualization. Lakshmi's previous interests also include evaluating rapid transit systems and intersecting multicultural planning with community engagement. She received her graduate degree in planning from the University of Toronto and her undergraduate degree in geographical biogeosciences from the University of British Columbia.