Dr Ashwin Mahesh is a journalist, technologist and public policy researcher who studies the way cities are growing in India, and the implications for managing them. He studied to be an astronomer and a climate scientist and worked with NASA for a few years, but since returning to Bangalore in 2005, he has focused on urban development problems. He is well known as the creator of the Big10 bus service, and has also helped steer many of the digital initiatives of the Bangalore Traffic Police. He also pioneered the community-managed restoration of lakes in the city, and has been instrumental in creating a new regime for solid waste management, based on segregation at source, recycling, and producer responsibilities.