I am an architect and urban designer based in Chennai. My 18 years of work experience is focused on creating cities that are people-oriented and centred around transit as part of a sustainable development agenda that I am passionate about. My approach is driven by research that is grounded and intersectional as a way to understand the everyday urbanism of cities.
With clientele ranging from state governments, urban local bodies, multilateral funding agencies, private sector entities and NGOs, my work portfolio includes master plans for cities, towns, station areas, harbour areas as well as redevelopment plans for town centres, city public spaces and brownfield sites. I have also been involved in several strategic planning projects, regional plans, local area plans, campus master plans and urban design studies for existing developments in various cities.
In 2011, I founded Urban Design Collective (UDC), a collaborative platform for architects, urban designers and planners to create livable cities through participatory planning. Key highlights of my work at UDC include pioneering efforts to mainstream participatory planning; gamification of the SDGs to raise awareness amongst a range of stakeholders; capacity building for ULBs by creating thematic guidebooks/ toolkits and e-learning modules; building the country’s first accessible beach boardwalk and a living museum as an inclusive space for the differently-abled; and investigating the relationship between art and urban regeneration especially in the context of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale- India’s largest international contemporary art exhibition.
In 2019, I was chosen as a technical expert on ‘Public Open Spaces’ by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) to mentor Smart City Projects in Hubli-Dharwad and Agartala under the CITIIS Program which is jointly run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), European Union and NIUA. Through these projects, I had the opportunity to push the envelope on climate action in public sector urban design projects through a transformative design approach and innovative nature-based solutions – a first-of-its-kind project delivery in India. The project at Hubli- Dharwad, which I mentored, received the Innovation award for Smart Cities from the President of India.
As an urbanist with a broad international reference, I am versatile and excited about working on projects/ initiatives that address urban challenges across sectors and in diverse contexts through solutions that are integrated, innovative, inclusive and equitable.
Selected publications or texts
- Mohankumar, V., Prothi, A., & Jha, V. (2023). Understanding riverfront developments: through time, function, and drivers for transformation. In V. R. Shinde, R. Ranjan Mishra, U. Bhonde, & H. Vaidya (Eds.), Managing Urban Rivers From Planning to Practice. Elsevier.
- Mohankumar, V. (2023). A Roadmap for Creating Livable Cities. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) under the CITIIS Program
- Mohankumar, V. (2021). Capacity Assessment and Enhancement for Safe Street Design and Enabling NMT Infrastructure;
Volume 1 -Training Needs Assessment
Volume 2 -Curriculum and Modules
Volume 3 – Post Training Report and Recommendations
Volume 4 -Quick Reference Guides for Street Design
Volume 5- Lessons and Experiences from 3 Indian Cities in NMT Planning Implementation and Institutional Management
Published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH - Mohankumar, V. (2020).Toolkit for preparing a Communication and Outreach Plan. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) under the CITIIS Program
- Mohankumar, V. (2020). A Tactical Urbanism Guidebook for Indian Cities. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
- Mohankumar, V. (2020). Participatory Planning in an era of Physical Distancing. Urban Design Collective
- Editorial Team member and layout designer for City Observer – A Biannual Journal on Cities published by Urban Design Collective.
- Collaborator and author for Chennai chapter in UN Data- Fieldwork 3; Published by Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam.
- Collaborator for Bypass infrastructures of the Peri-Urban Fringe- Bypass Lab Workshop report; Published by Indo-German Centre for Sustainability, Chennai.
- Mohankumar, V. (2016). Insider’s guide to Chennai: ‘Not a city you’ll fall in love with at first sight’; Published by The Guardian.
- Mohankumar, V. (2015.) Make it Count- Rethinking the New Urban Agenda and why Habitat 3 can’t have it easy for Different Urbanizations. Published by Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam.
- Mohankumar, V. (2015). 10 Urban Design Lessons from Turkey. In City Observer – Volume 1, Issue 1; Pages 68-87
- Mohankumar, V. (2009). Holy Cities of India in Landscape Ireland – The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute; Pages 28-29
- Mohankumar, V. (2008). Potsdamer Platz – Berlin’s Great Intersection in Landscape Ireland – The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute; Pages 26-27
- Co-authored Urbanism and Road Design in Landscape Ireland- The Official Journal of the Irish Landscape Institute; Pages 18-23
- Co-authored Ireland 2007 – The Beginning of the Future – Paper presentation for the IFHP Conference on Future Cities, Copenhagen, Denmark held in September 2007.
Selected speaking engagements
- November 2023
Speaker at URBAN CONTROVERSIES: 7th International Congress of Architecture organized by Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad in Pamplona, Spain - May 2023
Speaker at the CEPT Conference on Urban Design in India organized by CEPT University, Ahmedabad - March 2023
Presentation on ‘Building Livable Cities’ at the National Conference on Climate Finance for Cities organised by the National Institite for Urban Affairs, Delhi - January 2023
Presenter & Panelist for Webinar on ‘Nurturing inclusive design of streets and public spaces‘ organised by the National Institute of Urban Affairs through its BASIIC programme and in partnership with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) - February 2022
Speaker at Festival Cities: Cultural Capitals, an event held as part of the British Council’s Festival Connections, in partnership with Arts and Culture Resources India - April 2022
Speaker on ‘Designing safe and inclusive public open and green spaces in Indian cities and its impact on social and mental well-being’ as part of the South Asia Webinar Series on “Addressing Food Security, Coastal Resilience, Sustainable Urban Development and Associated Health Risks in South Asia” organised by Future Earth Global Hub South Asia, Divecha Centre for Climate Change at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - January 2022
Moderator for a talk titled Reimagining urban planning and design in post pandemic cities as part of The Auda Global Talk Series 2022 - December 2021
Keynote speaker for webinar series titled Resilient Public Spaces: Sharing design practices in times of crisis – a co-learning and exchange process comprising seven webinars sponsored by Superwien, the World Bank, and TU Wien - March 2021
Speaker for ‘About Walking’ symposium organized by the Biennale fur aktuelle Fotografie, Germany - June 2020
Panelist for L3c Webinar on ‘Smart Leadership For Enabling Urban Transformation’ organized by the CITIIS program - February 2020
Speaker and panelist for session titled ‘Design of Public Places and Public Buildings— View from South’ as part of the Urban Design and Architecture section of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2020 - November 2018
Speaker at the Accelerator on Gender Inclusion in Mobility in Chennai organised by WRI India - October 2018
Keynote speaker at Prameya 2018 in CEPT, Ahmedabad, a symposium organised to celebrate the UN World Habitat Day on the theme ‘Cities: Now and After’ - August 2018
Speaker and facilitator for WRI’s New Mobility Lab Roadshow to explore a ‘Vision for Urban Mobility in Chennai for 2030’. - June 2018
Keynote speaker at Indian Urban Futures II in London, UK a symposium themed on ‘How should medium sized cities grow?’ - March 2018
Speaker at the Knowledge Sharing Series hosted by GIZ, Chennai for the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Speaker at the Ecocities Focus Lab hosted by Ecocity Builders, USA held at Hindustan University in Chennai. - October 2016
Participated and presented at Future Jamboree 2016, a unique platform that brought together close to a 100 changemakers in an unconference format in Wroclaw, Poland.
Participated in the co-design, production and results Workshop as part of Critical Dialogue 03: The New Urban Agenda ‘on the ground’-UN-Data, at Berlin and Potsdam organized by The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. - September 2015
Participated in the Curated LAB and Critical Dialogue 02: The New Urban Agenda ‘on the ground’- Different Urbanisations in Berlin organized by The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. - November 2013
Panelist at the international workshop on Urban Design titled ‘City through its Riverfront’ held at the School of Planning & Architecture, Vijayawada.
Awards and recognitions
Sep 2023
Innovation award for Smart Cities
Issued by President of India; Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs ·
Awarded for the Green Mobility Corridor project in Hubbali for which I played the role of mentor via a technical assistance grant from the Europeon Union. The project is owned by Hubballi Dharwad Smart City Ltd.
Jan 2021
TUMI Remarkable Women in Transport 2021
Issued by Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative – A leading global implementation initiative on sustainable mobility formed through the union of 11 prestigious partners ·