Gaurab Das Mahapatra, Phd Email & Phone Number

I am presently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. I received my PhD in Architectural and Structural Design from the Laboratory of Architectural Planning at Hokkaido University, Japan in 2023 under the prestigious MEXT Scholarship. Besides, I am a Gold Medalist in Master of Planning (with specialization in Urban and Regional) and hold a Bachelor of Architecture degree, from India. By profession, I am a registered Architect (Bachelor of Architecture: 2007-12) and Planner (Urban and Regional Planning: 2015-17). In aggregate, I have 8 years of professional experience including 2 years as an Architectural Consultant at an Indian private organisation, 1 year as an Urban Planner at an Indian government organisation, 3 years as an Assistant Professor at an Indian university, and 2 years as Research/Teaching Assistant at a Japanese national university. During my tenure as Assistant Professor, I have taught undergraduate students of B.Arch. and post-graduate students of M. Arch. (Sustainable Architecture).Research-based intervention in street design has been my passion since the beginning of my professional practice. My recent publications emphasize the analysis of Universal Design considerations at the footpath (sidewalk) level in old Indian cities. While working as an Urban Planner, I was instrumental in the implementation of street development projects like incorporating street-level signages (with braille signage) in Kakinada Smart City, India. My Post-Graduate thesis, later developed into a book titled: Reinterpreting Urban Fabric in Cities with Living Heritage: The Case of Central Kolkata explored the possibility of restoring the urban genre in development guidelines based on street-level assessment. Apart from relevant professional experience, multiple books and publications are to my credit. I am also involved in periodic online lectures for students on the topic of sustainability in the domain of universally designed streets. At Hokkaido University in Japan, I was the Campus Director for the student entrepreneurship program ‘Hult Prize OnCampus program’ and the co-founder of a student-based startup ‘Beeber Global’. I have successfully established a ‘Cross Country Collaborative Research Program’ (CCCRP) that creates a research-based relationship between my laboratory in Japan and eminent global institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal.