BANGALORE

Nihal Perera is Professor of Urban Planning at Ball State University (USA) and the founder and director of CapAsia, immersive-semester in Asia. The two-time Fulbright Scholar (China and Myanmar) was also Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore, at KMITL (Thailand), and the University of Alberta (Canada). A primary contributor to the field of “postcolonial urban studies,” and leading scholar of Colombo, his research investigates how ordinary people produce (lived) spaces for their daily activities and cultural practices. He has written articles on gender, race, planning, Chandigarh, Dharavi, Yangon, and Gary (USA) and his books include Decolonizing Ceylon, Transforming Asian Cities, and People’s Spaces.

Sanjeev Vidyarthi is Professor of City Design and Spatial Planning in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, Chicago where he is Director of the Masters of City Design Program. Trained as an architect, urban designer and spatial planner, Sanjeev studies how to make better plans for places. Exploring spatial plans and city design efforts in a variety of settings, like planned neighborhoods, new towns, historic cities, and mega-regions, his research explores who does (and should do) the planning work. His scholarship combines a comparative lens, integrative framework, and insider/outsider perspective. He has multiple publications.