Doctoral Thesis

Working Title:
Navigating Sustainability transformations in India: An Evaluation of Urban Institutional Capacities w.r.t. Participatory Futures Discourses

Supervisors:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Knippschild, IOER and Dresden University of Technology (TUD) and Prof. Dr. Judith Miggelbrink, Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL)

IOER Research area:
Transformative Capacities (FB T)

Abstract:
Recent use of the concept of Anthropocene in the urban arena signifies challenges, uncertainties and opportunities that the nature, scale and magnitude of human impacts bring about on global and bio-physical scales. However, its true substance lies in how the concept can be used to guide attributes, choices, policies and actions that can influence the future. And future as it seems, lies in guiding the transformation of the future of our societies through SMART & Sustainable means. Joining the discussions on the future, India too heralded a new paradigm for urban transformation through its Smart City Mission in 2015 emphasising largely on envisioning performative urban futures that are technologically smart, ecologically sustainable and inclusive of the local communities in question. And as such, central to the success of the mission is the governance of the urban sustainability transformations and the transformative capacities of the institutions to drive dialogues and actions with the local communities through participatory futures practices. Existing research acknowledges that the success or failure of participatory futures practices depends not just on the way they are staged and conducted, but also on the capacities of the urban professionals/practitioners who inform, facilitate, conduct, guide, record and implement the outcomes of such practices. However, there is considerably little insight into the particular sets of resources, skills, interactions and knowledge sharing mechanisms that local governments would require to comprehend, conduct and proliferate the use of participatory futures practices. To this extent, this research would focus on developing a framework in order to understand the current capacities of local governments in advancing participatory futures practices as well as empirically demonstrate the current realities in a case in India under the backdrop of the Smart Cities Mission. This research will utilize qualitative methods such as landscape imaging, structured and non-structured questionnaires, assessment of policy documents, critical discourse analysis of landmark judgements, interviews with relevant officials and the civic organisations to decipher the extent to which participation is seen/not as an essential practice and the ways in which it is conducted for smart and sustainable urban futuristic transitions. Through the research, the study aims to provide insights into the current realities vs the transformative potential of local governments in achieving inclusive and sustainable communities of the future.

CV

Education

Since 04/2022
Doctoral Student at the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School (DLGS)

08/2017-12/2019
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Academic Degree: M.Sc. Urban Ecological Planning

08/2013-05/2017
School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, India
Academic Degree: Bachelor of Planning

Professional Experience

03/2020-03/2022
Programme Fellow at the India Smart Cities Fellowship Programme working under the Smart Cities Mission at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the National Institute of Urban Affairs

05/2018 – 08/2019
Master’s Thesis Student/Student Assistant working on the Horizon 2020: Trans-Urban-EU-China Project, work package 1.3: Socio-economic values through heritage preservation, at the Department of Architecture and Planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology