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    United Kingdom

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Land and housing in global south; Urban informality and Resilience, Heritage in post-disaster context; Public space and sacred geographies

20022025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Particulars

Urmi has an interdisciplinary background and scholarship in architecture, planning and housing studies, combining qualitative, quantitative and ethnographic methodologies. Her research focuses on urban development, poverty and inequality, contestations over access to land and housing in cities of global south. In particular, she is interested in how citizens articulate their rights to the city and the prospects for its implementation. Her recent research includes design and politics of public space and related spatial and social consequences, user perceptions of built environments in post-disaster contexts, aesthetics, equity and social justice in cities and designing for walkable communities. Urmi is currently working on a manuscript ‘Decoding Kathmandu’, and has edited several books, including “Trends and issues in housing in Asia: Coming of an age, Routledge City Series (2018) with A Shaw, ‘Housing India: Programmes, Policies and Governance’, London: Routledge (2024) with A Shaw and D Kundu, ‘The Politics of Urban land in South Asia: Current Challenges and New Direction’, Routledge (2025) with Kenneth B Neilson. She has published in a wide range of journals and co-edited Special issues. She sits on the International Editorial Board of the International Journal of Housing Policy and Urban India (National Institute of Urban Affairs, Ministry of Urban Development, India). 

 

Urmi holds a PhD (Newcastle University), a MSc in Urban Planning (University of Hong Kong as an Asian Development Bank Fellow) and BArch (School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India). Urmi is a Reader and the Director of Education (Postgraduate Taught programmes) in the School of Natural and Built Environment (SNBE) since 2019. Previously, she also served as the Programme Director for MSc Urban and Rural Design.

 

 

 

 

Research Statement

 

Teaching

 

Module co-ordinator for:

EVP 2007 Site Layout and Design; EVP 7043 Planning for Sustainable communties; Supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate and  PhD Students.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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