Aditya SawantAssistant Professor

Aditya Sawant

Assistant Professor

Vidwan Profile

https://krvia.irins.org/profile/298053

Interests

My practice of urban design and planning has been mainly through research of contemporary urban India as well as cities of the broader global south. My primary interests are issues of low-income housing in urban India and also understanding the larger impact of social, political and economic contexts on urban form and planning along with understanding the role and agency of the practice of urban design in shaping the built environment in the current urban landscape.

Pedagogy

The pedagogical practice is an extension of this research where questions evolved in the research practice are further explored and debated through course work. The pedagogy is imagined as a dialogue with students, who coming from different cities across India, also enrich this debate through their own experiences and perspectives.

Milestones

As a researcher I have also worked with Non-governmental organisations like Society for Promotion of Area Resource Center (SPARC) in Mumbai on rehabilitation housing for informal settlements and was the Research Director for the ‘State of Housing India’ exhibition held by the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) in Mumbai in 2018.

Programs

The Kamla Raheja Experiment started in 1992 with a goal to arrest the drift in architectural education. In pursuit of an illusive profile for a new syllabus, a positive and inclusive system seemed appropriate. Without negating existing archaic courses required for redundant exam oriented teaching, K.R.V.I.A. converted them into discourses by deconstructed university prescribed syllabus. Interactive discourses by non-tenured scholars put dynamic charge into these topics to lift them from banality into deep inquiries. These events produced a new and congenial academic environment for learning. – Sen Kapadia, Founder Director