People

Prof. Dr. Gaurav Raheja

All People

  • Role in Center:

    Lead Partner & Action Speaker

  • Discipline:

    Architecture and Urban Planning

  • University:

    IIT Roorkee

  • Country:

    India

Biography: Prof. Dr. Gaurav Raheja is a Professor of Architecture and Inclusive Mobility and a Co-coordinator of the Design Innovation Centre (DIC) at IIT Roorkee. His research focuses on social sustainability and human-centric approaches in urban environments. He founded the Laboratory of Inclusive Design (LID) to advance interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research towards inclusive urban environments.
He is a well-known expert on Universal Design and Accessibility Planning whose research focuses on the inclusion of persons with disabilities, children, gender, ageing and social inequity paradigms in urban futures and everyday lives.
He is also an advisor to India’s Government where he advises several ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office on accessibility audit projects. He is a DAAD Research Ambassador and has been a visiting researcher to the Technical University (TU) Berlin, TU Darmstadt, TU Dresden and the University of Duisburg, Essen, Germany. He was awarded the Mphasis Universal Design Award in 2010.

Selected Publications:

  • Tyagi, M./Raheja, G. (2020): Indian parents’ perception of children’s independent mobility in urban neighbourhoods: a case of Delhi. Children’s Geographies. Taylor & Francis Publications. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2020.1797996

  • Tyagi, M./Raheja, G. (2020): Are children independently mobile to school anymore? A comparative study of two neighbourhoods in Kolkata, India. 35th PLEA2020 conference (online) on sustainable architecture and urban design: planning post-carbon cities, A Coruña, Spain. https://www.plea2020.org/

  • Raheja, G./Tyagi, M. (2016): Mobility Experience of Persons with Visual Impairments in Indian Railway Station Environments. 3rd International Conference on Universal Design UD2016, York. IOS Press. http://ebooks.iospress.nl/ISBN/978-1-61499-684-2

  • Raheja, G. (2016): Enabling Environments for the Mobility Impaired in the Rural Areas: An Inclusive Design Approach to Rural Context. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany.

  • Raheja, G./Suryawanshi, S. (2014): Inclusive Strategies for Universal Access in Educational campus environments in a book titled Inclusive Desiging, Joining Usability, Accessibility and Inclusion. Springer Publications, UK as proceedings of an international conference titled 7th Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology held during March, 2014 at Cambridge University, UK.

  • Raheja, G./Suryawanshi, S. (2014): Inclusive Informal Campus Spaces through Universal Design India Principles, Universal Design 2014: Three Days of Creativity and Diversity H. Caltenco et al. (Eds.). Amsterdam: IOS Press, Assistive Technology Research Series. ISSN 1383-813X, Pp 195-203 (Universal Design 2014 conference held at Lund University, Sweden)

  • Bahga, S./Raheja, G. (2020): Complexities of practicing architectural regionalism in India: An interview study. Frontiers of Architectural Research.

  • Bahga, S./Raheja, G. (2018): An account of critical regionalism in diverse building types in postcolonial Indian architecture. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 7(4), 473-496.

  • Raheja, G./Borgmann, K. (2016): Urban Transformations in Left Over Spaces: Explorations through a space syntax perspective, IFKAD 2016, T U Dresden, International Forum on Knowledge Asset Dynamics 11th edition, Towards a New Architecture of Knowledge: Big Data, Culture and Creativity, Dresden, Germany.

  • Bahga, S./Raheja, G. (2019): A Study of Regional Assertions in the Architecture of Delhi from the 1970s to the present. Buildings, 9(5), 108.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Universal Design
  • Urban Sustainability
  • Social Inclusion
  • Mixed Method Approaches
  • Design Thinking

Current Position(s):

  • Professor at the Department of Architecture & Planning, IIT Roorkee
  • Professor (Joint Faculty) at the Centre for Transportation Systems, IIT Roorkee
  • Co-Coordinator of the Design Innovation Centre, IIT Roorkee
  • Professor In-charge at Inclusion and Accessibility Services, IIT Roorkee

Past Position(s)

  • Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture & Planning, IIT Roorkee
  • Manager/ Member on the Management Committee, Anushruti Academy for the Deaf, a social initiative of IIT Roorkee(2009-2016)
  • Coordinator of the Master’s Programme in Architecture, IIT Roorkee (2016-2019)
  • Institute Architect at IIT Roorkee (2007 – 2012)

Prizes & Awards:

  • Felicitated and Appointed as DAAD Research Ambassador for the India and South Asia Region by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Bonn (2018 – 2022).
  • DAAD Bilateral Exchange Fellowship 2019 and 2016 through the German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship. (TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt)
  • Curated and funded for Bauhaus at 100, an Indo German Symposium to commemorate the 100 years of Bauhaus, supported by German Centre of Research and Innovation (DWIH) and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
  • DAAD Science Tour Scholarship 2016 for City of the Future for Sustainable Development (selected as one from 30 international scholars)
  • Mphasis Universal Design Award 2010

Memberships & Networks:

  • Appointed as a DAAD Research Ambassador, representing DAAD India and South Asia
  • Member of Industry Academic Advisory Board (IAAB), National Institute of Design (NID), Haryana, an institution under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India.
  • Member on Expert Committee for Selection of National Awards of Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India
  • Advisor for Accessible India Campaign, Govt. of India
  • Consultant to National Institute of Urban Affairs, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India
  • http://www.buffalo.edu/globalhealthequity.html
  • https://idea.ap.buffalo.edu/
  • https://gehlpeople.com/
  • https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/social-inclusion
  • https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/inclusive-cities#3