TEACHING
I bring over 10 years of teaching experience across undergraduate and graduate levels, specialising in urban planning, development studies, and research methods.
My pedagogy centres participatory learning and connects classroom theory to real-world policy challenges. My teaching connects rigorous academic theory with the lived experience of urban inequality. I use visual methods, case studies from my fieldwork, and policy simulations to help understand complex urban dynamics.
Courses Taught
As Instructor of Record
Spring 2025
SAST0002: The City in South Asia
Department of South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate course examining urbanisation across South Asia, from ancient Indus Valley cities to contemporary megacities. Students explore how colonialism, partition, and globalisation shape urban form and life.
Fall 2024
URBG 702: Structure of the Urban Region
Department of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College, CUNY
Graduate seminar analysing metropolitan spatial structure, urban economics, and regional planning challenges in the United States and the Global South.
Spring 2020 & Spring 2019
URBS 428/CPLN 528: Undergraduate Urban Research Colloquium
Departments of City and Region Planning, and Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Guided advanced undergraduates through original research projects on Philadelphia urbanism. Students developed research questions, conducted fieldwork, and presented findings at the year-end symposium.
Spring 2015
Social Anthropology of Human Settlements
RICS School of Built Environment, Amity University, India
Students explore how culture shapes built environments, analysing informal settlements and vernacular architecture in Indian cities.
Oct 2005 – Apr 2006
Contemporary Social Issues
Department of Mass Media Studies and Journalism, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
Undergraduate Journalism Students learned to analyse complex social issues, from poverty, to communal tensions, to sustainable development – developing skills to research, contextualise, and communicate these topics effectively for diverse audiences in their reporting.
May – September 2005
Classical Sociological Theory
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
Undergraduate students explored foundational social theories from Marx to Durkheim to Weber, analysing how these frameworks explain contemporary dynamics and transformation in society.
As Teaching Assistant
Fall 2019 & Fall 2020
CPLN500: Introduction to City and Regional Planning
Prof. Domenic Vitiello, University of Pennsylvania.
Core course for graduate planning students covering history, theory, and contemporary practice. Led discussion sections on various topics, and graded assignments.
Spring 2019
CPLN581: Adapting Formality and Informality in Rapidly Urbanising Places
Prof. Eugenie L. Birch, University of Pennsylvania.
Graduate Seminar examining informal urbanisation. Co-designed syllabus and incorporated research on African and Asian cities
Fall 2018
WWS591G: Transport, Livelihoods and Road Safety in Rapidly Urbanizing Cities
Princeton University (with Prof. Eugenie L. Birch, University of Pennsylvania)
Graduate policy workshop where students developed recommendations for improving urban transport in Accra, Ghana. Co-taught sessions on informality.
Spring 2018
CPLN502: Urban Development and Infrastructure Finance
Prof. John Landis, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate students mastered municipal bond analysis, real estate pro forma analysis, and infrastructure financing strategies through hands-on problem sets that covered fiscal impact analysis, bond pricing, and development feasibility.
Guest Lectures
2024, 2020
How has informality been defined, and why does this matter to planners?
CPLN500: Introduction to City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania
2024, 2023
New? Towns? in India?
CPLN 577: Asian New Towns, University of Pennsylvania
2023
Looking through Multiple Lenses: Using Photography in community-based research in planning
HSPV6380/CPLN6870: Photography and the City, University of Pennsylvania
2021
Who are the (urban) poor? Why do they work? And why should that matter to planners?
Introduction to Housing, Community, and Economic Development, University of Pennsylvania
2017
The city in India: [How] Does planning take place?
Globalization and the City Seminar, University of Pennsylvania