Professor
Room No.: HSB 331H
Tel: +91 2257 4538
E-Mail: solly.benj@iitm.ac.in

Academic Background:

• Ph.D.Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• M. S. Arch. S.  MIT Cambridge Massachusetts
• B.Arch. School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi

Academic Positions:

• 2022 – Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras
• 2013-22 Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras
  Research Positions:
  a) 2012-13 Fellow Lichtenberg Kolleg, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany (Nov. 2012-June 2013);
  b) 2011-2012, Senior research associate with the French Institute Pondicherry (IFP)
• 2012 Professor of Architecture and Planning at the Manipal School of Architecture and Planning (MSAP) Manipal University
• 2009 – 2012 Associate Professor and Co-Chair, Urban Research and Policy Program, School of Social Sciences National Institute of Advanced Studies
• 2006-2009: Assistant Professor, Inter-disciplinary hire for Urban Studies at the Dept. of Political Science University of Toronto, Canada.
• 1998 to 2003: Visiting faculty at National Law School of India University, Bangalore: Course on Law and Urban Development.
• 1991-1993: Faculty Human Settlement Management Institute (HSMI), HUDCO New Delhi
  Teaching and Research on Housing and Land
• 1985-86: Visiting Faculty School of Planning & Architecture: co-lead on course: Housing Dynamics

Research Areas and Focus:

• The Urban as a Trans-National Space
• Local Government’s Land in Economy’s Trans-National Eco-System
• Multiple Territorial logics beyond the Metropolitan Context
• Critical art practice as Urban Theorization:

Courses with significant China Material :

1. HS 7002: Urban Land in the Global South: Opportunity and Challenges
2. HS 7006: Future Urbans: relational perspectives of Chinese, East Asian and Indian Cities
3. HS 7026  INFRASTRUCTURE & HOUSING: Opportunities and Challenges

Other Urban Courses:

1. HS 4012 BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
2. HS 3012 Urbanisation and Development
3. HS 3024 Research Methods and Program Evaluation

Significant contribution to the Urban Studies Discipline :

• ‘Occupancy Urbanism’ (2008, 2014)
• ‘Multiple Logics of Urbanism’ (2015)
• Social Embeddings of Land Titles (2011, 15)
  

Book:

• Jobs, land and urban development: The economic of success of small manufacturers in East Delhi, 1991 India. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Honours & Significant International Conferences including keynotes:

• 2015-19: Steering committee of the International Critical Geography Group (ICGG) 2015-onwards; Member of East Asian Regional Conference in Alternative Geography (EARCAG)
• 2015 : Nehru Memorial Library Public Lecture: Rethinking the Urban: Framing Land, Economy, & Local Government to conceptualize India’s and China’s co-produced urbanism in their series:  Cities in History Friday 16th October
• 2016 June: invited residency in HK (June 2016) as member of “15 Invitations” of the Asia Art Archive (AAA) Hong Kong 20th Anniversary Celebration Series. AAA is supported by The Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and brings together well known artists from Mainland China, HK, Korea, Taiwan, Japan.