Urban Village

Charitable Trust

Founding Members

Our Academic, Research and Professional Resources

 

UVCT, by way of pooling in a credible think tank with active involvement of like minded professionals, academia, researchers from diverse domains, to engage with well-informed  spatial dimensions of rural/rurban/peri-urban towards an interdisciplinary approach through holistic perspective for advocacy and mediation and a participatory approach, which will help administrations and authorities in well informed decisions. 

Dr. S. M. Akhtar

UVCT Emeritus Founding Member

Open Bio

 

Prof. Rajat Ray

UVCT Emeritus Founding Member

Open Bio

Prof. Anand Khatri

UVCT Founding Director

Open Bio

Dr. Nisar Khan

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Manish Chalana

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Jay Mittal

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Manju Baisoya Pundir

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Anurag Varma

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Binumol Tom

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Prof. Divay Gupta

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Vaishali P Latkar

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Vishakha Kawathekar

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Ar. Raghvendra Bisen

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Sonal Mithal

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Tarush Chandra

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

Dr. Gauri Shiurkar

UVCT Executive Member

Open Bio

CONTRIBUTE URBAN VILLAGE STUDIES - for - Envisioning Brownfield Development in Villages, Settlements & Urban Villages

X
Dr. S. M. Akhtar
UVCT Emeritus Founding Member Goes Here

Dr. S. M. Akhtar is an academician of repute and has a multi-disciplinary background, in architecture, town planning, social sciences, and environment sciences and rural and urban settlements.

He has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Bachelor’s degree in Law, and Ph.D. in urban housing. He has developed six master’s degree programs all of which have been developed to serve the contemporary needs of the country as well of the global society.

Under his initiative, the first Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics got established at a Central University. Ph. D program in Architecture & Planning at JMI was introduced by him and nine Ph.D. have been awarded under his supervision.

His books entitled “Urban Housing -issues & strategies”, “Islamic Architecture -at crossroad’, “Habib Rahman –The Architect of Independent India”, “Environmental Remediation & Rejuvenation”, “Islamic Architecture –perception & paradoxes”, “Pedagogy-Concepts Theories & Paradigms”, and “On Architecture Pedagogy” have been published.

He had been convenor for many national and international conferences and has been a consultant for the UNDP sponsored program ‘Capacity Development of Urban Local Bodies’. He was programme collaborator in Union International de Architect’s International work programme 1999 on ‘Intermediate Cities’. 

Prof. Rajat Ray
UVCT Emeritus Founding Member

Prof. Rajat Ray is an Architect and Academician of repute and has been in academics since 1993. He graduated from Bengal Engineering College, did masters in Urban Design from SPA, and did conservation studies from Academy of Fine Arts, Florence, MA conservation studies from University of York.

He was officiating Dean and professor at Sushant School of Art and Architecture and is currently a professor of Architecture in USAP, IP University. He has worked on a number of conservation related projects, both large scale heritage zone plans, heritage building regulations and historic building restoration.

He occasionally writes on architecture, conservation and city related issues.

Prof. Anand Khatri
UVCT Founding Director

Prof. Anand Khatri is the founder of Urban Village Charitable Trust. He is a senior architect and an academician who pursued Architecture from the Government College of Architecture, Lucknow, and a master’s in architectural conservation from SPA Delhi.

He has 28 years of experience, working in the profession. He is a professor at Apeejay Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Planning, AKTU. He recently submitted a 25-year GPDP for Kalonda to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj & heads the research Cell at AIT SAP.

In the year 2005, he was a consultant with Punjab Heritage & Tourism Promotion Board on the identification signage for Freedom-trail and Religious circuit state-wide. With the Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund (OECF) Japan through WAPCOS, he worked on Conservation strategies for five Ghats in Vrindavan and Mathura in 1996.

Participatory research under his guidance aided the development of the book “Rediscovering Delhi” in April 2021.

A trained healer, a theosophist, a poet, and a powerlifter, he ensembles a multi-disciplinary attitude to constitute his sense of life and is the founder of the Poiesis Society for Poetry. “Village- People, Policy, Poetry, and Planning”, “Urban Villages of Noida” and “Understanding the limitations and the Inapplicability of URDPFI and Master Plans in the settlement areas of Uttar Pradesh” are his ongoing Researches.

Presently, he looks forwards to working in areas that have escaped the focus of planned development.

Dr. Nisar Khan
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Nisar Khan is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He completed his graduation and postgraduation at AMU, SPA Delhi and IHS Netherlands respectively. His Ph.D. on the architecture of unauthorised colonies of Delhi was awarded from JMI in 2017.

In his 15 years of experience in teaching he has been instrumental in starting the M.Arch. Urban Regeneration Program at JMI. His research work is published as well as presented in various national and international journals and conferences. 

He has delivered invited lectures at reputed institutes like IGNCA, INTACH, SPA Delhi, SPA Bhopal, CPWD, National Museum Institute etc. 

Dr. Khan is a recipient of Dutch Orange Knowledge Program fellowship in 2019.

Dr. Manish Chalana
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Manish Chalana engages in urban planning through the lenses of urban design, historic preservation, urban & planning history, and equity & social justice. He has degrees in architecture from Mangalore University, M.Arch from the School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, landscape architecture from Penn State, and PhD in urban planning from the University of Colorado.

He is appointmented in urban design & planning at UW, and is an adjunct in the departments of architecture and landscape architecture. He is  also a member of the South Asia program in the Jackson School of International Studies. Previously, he has taught as a graduate student/ lecturer at the University of Colorado and Pennsylvania State University, and worked in India with INTACH and HUDCO.

He consults on international projects mostly around historic preservation and is a founding director of the Center for Preservation and Adaptive Reuse, which strives to connect academia to practice of historic preservation. He has published on topics of urban design, planning history, and preservation in a variety of international journals He co-edited the book – Messy Urbanism: Understanding the “other” cities of Asia.

Dr. Jay Mittal
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Jay Mittal is a graduate from College of Architecture Lucknow batch 1990-1995. He then joined School of planning at CEPT university and completed his M Tech in urban and regional planning in the year 1997.

He later pursued his MBA in business and PhD in regional development planning, real estate from university of Cincinnati USA. Dr Mittal currently is an associate professor  at Auburn University, USA. He, at auburn university teaches subjects like urban economics, real estate principles, real estate market analysis and GIS for planners.

With over 20 years of professional and academic experience in India and USA,  he specialises in Land Markets, Valuation, Economic development, Spatial Planning and Market Analysis; Real estate feasibility & location research using GIS; Land value capture, Land readjustments; and Urban & Regional Planning Strategies in the United States and India.

Dr. Manju Baisoya Pundir
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Manju Baisoya Pundir is a strategic urban planner with a strong focus on sustainability, integrated planning, policy, and governance. Her experience spans over 18 years of consulting and research practice covering prestigious government and private sector projects, urban strategies, city development plans, holistic master plans, residential and mixed-use township developments, and technical feasibility studies.

Previously, she worked at the National University of Singapore, towards international research on quantitative indicators for planning ecological townships; and has been a part of planning and management teams of leading consulting organizations like LASA, LKS, JLL and ASCI in India. She holds a Ph.D. in the field of sustainable principles and practices in urban planning and has worked across India, Singapore, and Middle-East.

At present, she is a part of the senior team at IBI Group in the UAE, and has contributed towards the National Spatial Strategy and new National Spatial Planning Act of Saudi Arabia among other national-and regional level integration strategies and environmental studies.

Dr. Anurag Varma
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Anurag Varma is an academician and researcher, consultant and practicing architect with more than 25 years of varied professional experience. A consultant to organizations in
government sector and corporate consulting/NGO’s, he is currently Professor & Director at Amity School of Architecture and Planning, Amity University Rajasthan at Jaipur.

He has completed his Doctoral research from TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi and his research interests include sacred cultural heritage in its intersection with urban planning of pilgrimage towns, heritage conservation and contemporary urban developments.

Anurag has presented technical papers in seminars/conferences and has published research work to his credit. Principal Architect in a self-owned professional consulting firm, his expertise includes spatial planning, urbanism, heritage conservation and architecture design. His professional experience has been wide-ranging, that includes heading a SBU ENR rated Australia-based International Design Firm; and has held senior management position at a leading workshare firm.
Major projects include development of Greenfield integrated township developments and industrial estates for prestigious corporate clients’. Design services also include multi-disciplinary co-ordination between spatial planning, architecture and engineering infrastructure design of residential, institutional, commercial and healthcare functions.
Dr. Binumol Tom
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Binumol Tom is a conservation architect and an enthusiastic heritage activist. Having graduated from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, she pursued her Masters in architectural conservation from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

She further undertook her doctorate in architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad. She is an author and has written books and chapters in various national and international books.

She has many peer-reviewed papers and articles in academic journals, professional journals, refereed conference proceedings, has many presentations to her credit, and has deliberated on various international and national platforms in the capacity of an academician as well as heritage activist.

She has won many awards and is deeply into writing, traveling, painting, reading, and heritage mapping. She is currently posted as professor in architecture at the Department of Architecture, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Government Engineering College, Kottayam. 

Prof. Divay Gupta
UVCT Executive Member

Prof. Divay Gupta is leading conservation architect of India and heads the Architectural Heritage Division of INTACH, New Delhi. An Alumni of ICCROM, University of Birmingham & School of Planning & Architecture he  has been striving to help better manage and conserve the cultural resources in his country for more than 20 years. 

He has had the privilege and opportunity to be part of a number of prestigious projects in UK, USA, India, Afghanistan, Nepal and Cambodia and have participated in joint UNESCO & ICOMOS missions to World Heritage sites as a conservation expert. His restoration projects in Ladakh have won the SA UNESCO awards of Merit & Excellence. 

He has been invited for special lectures and juries at various national and international conferences, seminars and colleges of Architecture across India. He is a visiting faculty and a member on the board of studies of Department of Architecture Conservation at SPA New Delhi, and served as a director at School of Architecture at Delhi Technical Campus, IP Univ, Gr. Noida 

Dr. Vaishali P Latkar
UVCT Executive Members

Dr. Vaishali P Latkar, PhD. M. Arch. (Architectural Conservation), B.Arch., is an academician and practicing conservation architect from Pune. She heads Post Graduate Department in Architectural Conservation at Sinhgad College of Architecture, Pune.

She completed her graduation in 1994, Master in ‘Architectural Conservation’ from SPA, New Delhi and, her Doctorate from Savitribai Phule Pune University. Her doctoral research focused on the built heritage of pilgrimage places.

She has worked on conservation projects for INTACH, Pune Municipal Corporation and State Archaeology Department. She is a member of Heritage Committees of Pune Municipal Corporation and Satara- Wai- Panchgani- Mahabaleshwar. She is a member of Board of Studies in Architecture at Savitribai Phule Pune University.

She regularly conducts heritage awareness programs as well as training programs in heritage conservation. She has also participated and presented in national as well as international conferences and widely written about heritage in journals and newspapers.

Dr. Vishakha Kawathekar
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Vishakha Kawathekar is a conservation architect. She has previously worked as a conservation consultant for Archeological Survey of India, and has taught in various graduate and post graduate programmes in the Department of Architectural Conservation, SPA, Delhi; Department of Museology, National Museum Institute, Delhi and Department of Recreational Architecture and Urban Regeneration, JMI, Delhi.

She is principle investigator in many collaborative institutional projects including Heritage Impact Assessment for the Khajuraho World Heritage Site, and Ashapuri Temple Project. She has over fifteen years of experience in collaborative research projects including international projects with Cardiff University, UK and NTNU, Norway.

She is a key resource person for teachers training programmes and capacity building programmes for government officials related to conservation in India. Her doctoral research is in the field of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act and its applicability.

She has recently published a book titled “Legal framework for the protection of built heritage in India.” She is currently a faculty of Masters Programme in Architecture (Conservation) at School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal and is instrumental in establishing the Centre for Cultural Knowledge Systems.

Ar. Raghvendra Bisen
UVCT Executive Member

Ar. Raghavendra Bisen is the principal architect and founder at ‘Raghvendra Bisen Architects’. He has more than twenty years of professional experience leading his team in creating standout structures combining elements of aesthetics and efficient functionality.

Under his leadership, the firm has transformed many value propositions into experiences from various design projects. He studied architecture at the Government College of Architecture, Lucknow and has designed projects that range from independent villas to group housing, commercial & corporate offices, IT buildings, retail Spaces, mix use developments, educational institutions, shopping centers, business hubs, and industrial estates across India – thereby engaging diverse issues, multiple constituencies and varying scales: from interior design and architecture to green buildings and planning.

According to him, “Any appraisal of green buildings should consider their benefits not only to the environment but also to the residents. Climate responsive architecture creates better indoor environments by allowing more natural light, fresh air circulation, optimal use of space and suited temperature.”

 

Dr. Sonal Mithal
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Sonal Mithal is a conservation architect and artist. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At her conservation firm, People for Heritage Concern, her work prioritizes archival and material research-based architectural conservation and artistic practice. She is also a visiting associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University.

She has created several artwork series based on extensive research that illustrates the palimpsestic nature of urban history; Kolkata, Lucknow, and Surat are some of the cities she has represented in her paintings.

At present, she is a conservation consultant for restoration and adaptive reuse of the Surat Castle and restoration of CNI Church among other structures. She is invested in combining practice with teaching bringing learning from either side to the other. Her artwork has been presented at the Venice Biennale 2019.

Dr. Tarush Chandra
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Tarush Chandra is currently a Professor in Department of Architecture and Planning, Adjunct faculty at Centre of Energy and Environment and as Dean – Student Welfare and Alumni Affairs in MNIT Jaipur. He started his academic career at MNIT Jaipur as a faculty in the Department of Architecture.

He graduated from Government College of Architecture, Lucknow, and has Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from School of Planning, CEPT, Ahmedabad. Urban development has always been of interest, sufficiently inspiring all through to explore and contribute.

His completed his doctorate from CEPT University, Ahmedabad in the field of Change in Form in Urban Villages, a case of Jaipur Metropolitan Area’. The research investigates and proposes policy interventions for the integration of urban villages in the metropolitan fabric, considering the transformation in their physical, demographic, socio-economic, morphological, and governance status, taking the metropolitan area of Jaipur as a case.

His research work and interests include sustainable urban development, sustainable construction, materials, technology, and management, urban transformation, urban infrastructure planning, and management, integrating passive techniques in buildings in hot-dry climate, policy planning, and strategies for built and unbuilt areas. 

Dr. Gauri Shiurkar Kotnis
UVCT Executive Member

Dr. Gauri Shiurkar  has a Doctoral degree in Architectural Conservation. She is  a practicing architect with professional experience of 28 years  covering a number of notable  Architectural , Interior design and  Conservation projects.

Being an experienced academician with a demonstrated history of working in the architecture & planning academic industry, she has  a long experience of setting up new Institutes and bringing them up to excellent standards.

She is currently the Director of School of Architecture, Urban Development and Planning , Chairperson of the Board of Studies in Architecture and Design and also President, Institute Innovation Council in Symbiosis Skills and Professional University, Pune.

Her career in Academics started as a lecturer in 1993 . Her dedication towards academics and her leadership qualities helped her to hold the positions as Head of different Institutions like Principal in McGAN’s Ooty School of Architecture, Sinhgad Institute of Interior Design and HOD in Sinhgad College of Architecture.

She has been appointed by the University of Pune,  AICTE and Council of Architecture on different experts committees. Having a research background in Heritage conservation, Architectural Education for last 10 years, she has presented and published a number of Research papers in India and abroad.