Prof. Dr. Saswat Bandyopadhyay

India’s present trends of urbanisation rely excessively on land conversion and land-based financing, leading to haphazard urban sprawl in the urban periphery. These trends of rural-to-urban land conversion are most prominent on the edges of large and metropolitan cities, generally characterised by limited access to basic services and unplanned development. This spatial dynamic in the urban periphery has contributed to growing wealth inequalities among landowners and farmers in these transitional areas, as well as to the fragmentation of rural and regional landscapes.

Germany, on the other hand, has a long history and culture of spatial and regional planning acts, land-use policies, and the judicious use of localised databases to understand and manage these spatial dynamics.

Through the IOER Fellowship, Saswat Bandyopadhyay seeks to establish a reciprocal channel of knowledge exchange on spatial planning systems, contextually grounded case studies, and a peer-to-peer learning platform. One of the core areas of focus will be to develop comparative case studies between Ahmedabad, India, and Munich, Germany, focusing on spatial planning acts, policies, and planning tools. The two case studies will be analysed based on a common approach to mapping urban expansion and sprawl, using IOER’s geospatial methodology.

Spatial Planning Framework for Economic Geographies, Sustainability of Peri-Urban Development, Urban Resilience, and Sustainable Infrastructure

Saswat Bandyopadhyay is a Civil Engineer with advanced qualifications in Urban Planning and Land Administration, and holds a Doctoral Degree in Climate Resilient Development. He has over 30 years of experience in the fields of Urban and Regional Planning, Sustainable Infrastructure, and Climate Resilient Development.

Saswat Bandyopadhyay is currently a full Professor at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, where he has been spearheading courses, studios, and research related to urban and regional sustainability, infrastructure resilience, and land value capture tools for financing urban development.

As the Chair of the Public Sector of the CEPT Professional Programme, he has been leading training and capacity-building activities for various government offices in India and South Asia. He is also spearheading research and advisory activities related to spatial planning acts and tools, green and affordable housing, and the localization of climate action plans through the CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) / CAF.

Over the years, Saswat Bandyopadhyay has actively engaged in several prestigious national and provincial urban planning policies and action plans in India. He is currently a member of the High-Level Committee (HLC) for Urban Planning and Development, established by the Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Gujarat, and an Expert Member of the National High-Level Committee, set up by the Government of India.

Saswat Bandyopadhyay has also contributed to various national and international projects and publications, such as the Country Enabling Environment Report for Asia-Pacific, the GOLD-V Report on Asia-Pacific, and the National High-Level Committee Report on Urban Planning in India.