Alexander Altskan is a professional urban planner and urbanism educator based in New York City. He specializes in the development and implementation of large-scale transportation and streetscape projects, and currently serves as the Senior Capital Planner for the Transit Development division of the NYC Dept. of Transportation. He received his Masters Degree in Urban Planning from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University in 2015, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from the University of Chicago in 2013.
Professionally, he has spent the majority of his career working with the municipal government of New York City. In his current role at the NYC Dept. of Transportation, he manages the design and construction of bus rapid transit systems throughout the city, most notably along the Woodhaven Boulevard corridor and in Downtown Jamaica, Queens as part of the Better Buses program. He has also worked as a cartographer and designer with the WalkNYC team, improving wayfinding systems through the city, as well as helping put together the NYC Street Design Manual and annual NYC Bike Map.
Prior to working with the NYC Dept. of Transportation, Alexander worked for the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation, facilitating repairs and reconstruction of infrastructure on parkland and the subsequent restoration of parks. At the start of his career, while working in planning consulting, he assisted the NYC Dept. of City Planning in the administration of the East New York, East Harlem, Jerome Avenue, and Inwood rezonings, helping further policies to develop affordable housing and improve open space facilities in historically underserved areas.
Alexander’s previous teaching experience includes the “Whose streets?” street redesign course in the fall of 2023 and the Urban Planning Essentials practicum in the summer of 2023, both at the Kharkiv School of Architecture. He has also hosted numerous cartography and mapping workshops for middle and high school students in New York City.