Dr Sushmita Pati, Dr Chandrima Mukhopadhyay and Dr Mukta Naik
Funding period: 6 April 2026 – 24 April 2026
Type of funding:
Other Grants
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69752/HCAK-1T85
Award Number: USF-EVT-251201
Partner organisations: National Law School of India University (Bangalore, India)
Lead organisers: Dr Sushmita Pati, Dr Chandrima Mukhopadhyay and Dr Mukta Naik
Team members: Anwesha Ghosh (NLSIU), Ratoola Kundu (TISS) and Ashima Sood (Anant University)
Contact: Dr Sushmita Pati
Abstract:
Southern urbanists have, in the past two decades, challenged the ‘universality’ claimed by Northern and Eurocentric urban models by emphasising the experiences of cities in the Global South and East. With meso-level explanations, southern theory has shown how analysis and evidence from a variety of places and contexts can generate “minor theory”, with the potential for incrementally and deductively evolving a meta theory based on diverse imaginations and actionable knowledge. A new generation of scholars and practitioners in the Global South and East, however, must urgently respond to the challenges being faced by cities today, mired as they are in multiple geopolitical, ecological and political crises. We are inspired by innovative, interdisciplinary, futuristic urban practices on the ground, which remain undocumented. These concerns are urgent for urban India, where academic scholarship and research-backed practice can crucially inform policy, governance and investments.
With this background, the proposed workshop aims to leverage the networks of USF grantees in India to bring together ECRs and senior scholars and practitioners to examine emergent themes, contemporary challenges and urgent questions in southern theory, including southern urbanism(s) as an emerging subfield.