Nikhil Sanjay Shah, a global citizen, is a researcher, architect and an Urban Designer.

His research
interests are in the domain of urban/habitat design, indigenous studies, the urbanism of Himalayan
settlements,urban art, agro-ecology, eco-feminism, heritage conservation, sustainable (de)development,
gender and queer studies, community participation, and earth architecture, and he has four years of
experience in the academic, research and development sector. He was previously associated with the
NITTE Institute of Architecture, NITTE University, Mangalore, IN as a Head of Urban Studies Research
Collective and an Academic, and People’s Resource Centre, Delhi, IN as a research fellow where he was
working on the Nagar-Nadi research fellowship investigating water-city relationship in the city-region
of Surat mapping the trajectory of development projects and its impacts on the local communities. Prior
to that, he was a research fellow working with SVNIT, Surat, IN and Salford University UK on IT Indian
Heritage Platform Project, a research assistant to Ar. Shveta Mathur, GIZ Delhi, IN working on
participatory in-situ slum upgradation in India, research fellow at Recyclebin, Trivandrum, IN working
on Backyard Urbanism, a research fellow at UNESCO Sahapedia, Delhi, IN working on the old city core of
Surat, IN, a Project Architect at PMA Design Studio, Valsad, IN working on competition projects, and an
Architecture Apprentice at the Hunnarshala Foundation working on urban slum housing and rural
housing in Kutch, IN.
He was a recipient of ISOCARP 2020 student award for his graduation thesis; Ecological Urban
Commons, Augmenting climatic and social resilience, Surat, IN, Shriya Anand award from Landscape
Foundation, IN for his work Minutiae; An Empathetic Narrative exploring the historic precinct of
Ashiwinikumar in the city of Surat, IN. His key publications include; Understanding the Urban Spatial
Configurations to address social inequities in Delhi, IN, Challenging privatisation: Old and new Urban
Commons, in Faridabad, IN, Reinstating the lost logic of Himalayan towns, case of Kullu, IN, Globalized
since 1510: Transitional Morphology of Gopipura, Surat, IN, The One-pillar Mosque; Masjid-e Quwaat-e-
Islam, Rander, Surat, IN. He plans to work on the Urban Water Plan for the Coastal cities of the Indian
subcontinent and research on diverse issues exploring multi-disciplinary pedagogical frameworks to
evolve co-learning processes. He holds a Masters in Urban Design from the School of Planning and
Architecture, Delhi, IN. In his free time, Nikhil loves to listen to music, wander, engage with
performance art, write, and save and disperse seeds.