Janet Attarian

  • Janet Attarain Urban Mobility Strategist SmithGroup Detroit
  • Janet Attarian Urban Mobility Strategist Urban Planning Detroit SmithGroup

As Senior Mobility Strategist, Janet seeks to realize the transformative impact of mobility by looking at the entire ecosystem of a project; this holistic perspective helps ensure adaptability for a changing world, maximizes return on investment, and yields increased opportunity for those who rely on it. Her multidisciplinary approach takes seemingly “in-between spaces" and transforms them into "people-centered spaces, helping communities create beautiful, healthy places to live.” The expertise Janet has forged throughout her career has helped shape benchmark sustainable and multi-modal projects in Chicago and Detroit, many in displaced and minority neighborhoods. “Listening to communities and ensuring that everyone is at the table, especially those in historically disenfranchised communities, has been critical to project success,” she notes. Janet says she’s inspired by “unsung women heroes” like Gertrude Bell and Jane Addams whose stories are fascinating and little-known. “They so often sit at the center of things we take for granted and never even thought to question,” she muses.