Lian Farhi Promoted to Senior Associate + Director of Planning and Urban Design

Sam Schwartz is pleased to announce that Lian Farhi has been promoted to Senior Associate and named Director of Planning and Urban Design for the New York office. An urban planner and designer with an architecture background, Lian’s work is defined by a multidisciplinary approach and a belief that the public deserves a safe, welcoming, and equitable civic realm of exceptional quality. Lian has collaborated with an array of public, private, and nonprofit clients over her nearly 5-year tenure at Sam Schwartz; prior to joining the firm, she was an Urban Designer with the New York City Department of Transportation and a Planning Fellow with The Municipal Art Society of New York.

“Lian is pushing the planning profession forward,” said Michael A. Shamma, PE, President of Sam Schwartz. “From NYC’s first-ever streets master plan, to transformative streetscape designs, to research into how mobility is changing in response to Covid-19, she is constantly asking how our streets, our mobility infrastructure, and our public spaces can work better for people. These are guiding questions for our firm, as well; I’m excited for the future of our Planning and Urban Design team under her leadership.”

“Lian has been an extraordinary advisor for the Meatpacking BID,” said Jeffrey LeFrancois, the Executive Director of the Meatpacking District Management Association. “She has brought to the work both deep technical expertise and a rigorous commitment to our goals and projects. Grounded in extensive research, Lian and her team are adept at finding creative solutions that are ambitious yet implementable. The combination of cutting-edge and practical, along with a consistent focus on making NYC streets safe and welcoming for all, is what has made Sam Schwartz one of our most trusted collaborators.”