Christina Lok

Christina has always been drawn to the relationship between creativity, public life, and the places people come to love and call home. At U3 Advisors, she helps institutions utilize urban design thinking and community partnerships to create more vibrant, inclusive places.

Christina Lok is a Senior Analyst in U3 Advisors’ New York office. Her interest in cities, social systems, and her work as an urban planner has always been closely connected to the arts. Coming from a classical music educational background, she understands how creative practice shapes culture and community, and this perspective continued to develop during her two years as an Urban Design Intern at business improvement district Union Square Partnership. There, she helped advance public art initiatives, securing $105,000 in grant funding for the projects and contributing to economic development reports that articulated how public art made Union Square one of the city’s most dynamic live-work-play neighborhoods. The experience cemented her belief that artists, cultural institutions, and public space managers are essential in creating neighborhoods where people want to gather, connect, and stay.

Christina’s approach to planning and design is grounded in a belief that meaningful community engagement is critical to any planning work, an ethos shaped early in her career as a grassroots political organizer. Experience with voter outreach in a bilingual English–Cantonese environment gave her a firsthand understanding of the challenges facing her neighbors and the importance of building trust across diverse communities. Growing up in Queens, Christina developed an enduring appreciation for New York City’s public life and cultural enclaves that make every neighborhood feel distinct.

Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from George Washington University and a Master of Science in Urban and Community Planning from Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, where she graduated with distinction and received the 2026 American Planning Association Metro Chapter Outstanding Student Award. She also brings perspectives from her time working in public affairs and studying urban livability and sustainability in Copenhagen, Denmark. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring new cities, people-watching in any of New York’s great parks, spending time in a ceramics studio, and going to the movies.