Dr. Renu Desai is an independent researcher based in Ahmedabad. She holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on urbanisation, urban planning and governance, informality, and housing in Indian cities. She examines how economically disadvantaged communities experience and negotiate urban life, as well as the policies, planning frameworks, governance structures, and political processes that shape the conditions for their inclusion and exclusion.
Since 2014, Dr. Desai’s research has focused extensively on migrant workers, exploring their entitlements, housing conditions, and the dynamics of their lives and livelihoods across both rural and urban contexts.
Dr. Desai has published extensively in leading academic journals, including Antipode, Economic and Political Weekly, Environment and Urbanization, Environment and Urbanization ASIA, International Development Planning Review, Marg, Public Culture, Vikalpa, and Water Alternatives. She has also authored numerous book chapters, working papers, and research reports, and is the co-editor of Urbanizing Citizenship: Contested Spaces in Indian Cities (Sage, New Delhi, 2012).
Dr. Desai is one of the founding directors of the ShelterSquare Foundation (SSF), a non-profit organisation established in 2023 to promote equitable and dignified housing for workers in the unorganised and informal sectors. Previously, she served as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University (2011–19). She has also been a visiting faculty member at CEPT University for several years and has taught in the Anant Fellowship at Anant University, Ahmedabad.