Richa Kandpal holds a PhD in Global Environmental Studies from Kyoto University, Japan, with a thesis titled “A Socio-Institutional Approach for Improving Regional Planning and Basic Service Provisioning in Peri-Urban Villages – The case of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India”.
She also holds a Master of City Planning from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, and Bachelor of Architecture from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, India. Prior to joining UNU, Dr Kandpal worked at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, on designing social systems for the intergenerational issues of sustainability. In addition to this, she has also worked as a researcher on development planning and capacity building for water and sanitation sectors in Indian cities under a collaborative project between the All India Institute of Local Self-Government, India, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At UNU, Dr Kandpal’s work focuses on the localization of sustainable development goals, with particular emphasis on urbanization and more efficient institutional forms in development planning.
Research Interests
- Community development
- Governance ‘of’ and ‘for’ Sustainable Development Goals
- Public Policy
- Urban and regional governance
- Urban Development