Ujjvala Krishna
An urban researcher, Ujjvala (she/her) works in policy around the built environment, climate change, and housing. Central to her mode of inquiry is a constant question: how do people with the ability to negotiate with and shape built environments, become critical voices in the socio-cultural urban setting. She is keen to explore connections between the built, methods of policy research, and processes of design. She is an alumnus of the Urban Fellows Programme from IIHS, Bangalore and graduated as an architect from CEPT University, Ahmedabad.
Policy & Urban Research
Research Associate
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore
Project to better understand heat vulnerability at the ward-level in Bangalore involving primary research, field work, & systems design thinking for development of a Heatwave Guide - in partnership with the Bangalore Sustainability Forum, Initiative for Climate Action, Azim Premji University, and Restless Development.
Read coverage about the project: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/why-a-sweltering-bengaluru-needs-more-than-reactive-measures-to-address-heat-stress/article68024332.ece
Follow the project on: /www.instagram.com/heat.in.bangalore/
Read more about the work on: www.bangaloreheatwaveguide.wordpress.com/
We also presented the project at the 8th International Network of Tropical Architecture: Climate Justice & Resilience (2024).
Project Associate
ClimACT, Habitat Forum
Project is a climate action initiative with the intent of bringing convergence in views and actions that can take a proactive approach to climate change in Chennai, with the primary goal of improving the city’s resilience, equity, and liveability.
Research Consultant
HeatWatch
HeatWatch, supported by the Mira Fellowship, enhances awareness, capacity, and accountability to improve decision-making and on-ground action in India amidst rising heat-stress. Led by journalist Apekshita Varshney, the project involves secondary research, writing, and content curation for a public website highlighting the adverse impacts of heatwaves in India.
Read about deaths due to heatwaves: https://heatwatch-next-git-development-enroot-mumbai.vercel.app/blogs/data-story-of-heatwave-in-india-an-ambiguous-picture
Read about heat and its impacts on ecosystems: https://heatwatch-next-git-development-enroot-mumbai.vercel.app/blogs/how-does-extreme-heat-distort-ecosystems
Read about how access to cooling should be a right: https://heatwatch-next-git-development-enroot-mumbai.vercel.app/blogs/energy-resources-gripped-in-the-extreme-spells-of-heatwaves
Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi
Researcher for the India Housing Report & Urban Team, writing pieces on Evictions, Demolitions and due process, and the trajectory of Housing Policies and Schemes in India. As part of the Urban Team, summarised a Policy Report on Homeless Shelters in Delhi, and engaged in the Smart Cities Project economic data analysis.
Read more: https://indiahousingreport.in/outputs/opinion/life-in-baprola-post-resettlement-stories-of-inadequacy-and-vulnerability/
https://indiahousingreport.in/outputs/data-tales/housing-policy-timeline-part-1/
Researcher
Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore
Researcher on a project on rental housing for blue-collared workers, that studied the feasibility of the unaided shared rental housing market for low-income migrants.
Presented work to two consecutive batches of the Urban Fellowship Programme, IIHS under the elective on housing studies (2023, 2024).
We also presented the project at the conferences:
- Sustainable & Inclusive Urban Development in Global South, New Delhi
- Housing Studies Association, Sheffield, UK