The UCLA Asian American Studies Center is very pleased to announce that Dr. Vinit Mukhija has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at UCLA's Department of Urban
Planning. An active member of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center's Faculty Advisory
Committee, he also has an appointment with the Department of Asian American Studies.
Professor Mukhija's research focuses on affordable housing in developing countries, and
Third World-like housing conditions in the United States. He is interested in the
globalization of ideas and institutions of housing and land development. His research
evaluates the potential and pitfalls of institutions from developed countries - such as Transfer of Development Rights, inclusionary housing, property rights, and mortgage
finance - in housing delivery in developing countries, and the relevance of housing ideas
and frameworks from developing countries - such as incremental development,
micro-finance, informality, and collective upgrading - in developed countries.
He argues that comparative approaches deepen and transform our understanding of
urbanization and development, and help reveal unexpected avenues for policy and social
change. In addition, he is interested in research on institutional actors performing
contrary to conventional wisdom, including effective public sector programs and
successful collective action endeavors. Such contrarian approaches also help increase the
range of options available to policymakers. His first book, Squatters As Developers?:
Slum Demolition and Redevelopment in Mumbai, India (King's SOAS Studies in Development
Geography. 2003), is based on extensive fieldwork in Mumbai, and makes these arguments by
following a case study of a cooperative of slum-dwellers.
Professor Mukhija's fascination with Mumbai is ongoing. His current project examines how
the city's redevelopment programs for slums, chawls (tenements), and mills are changing
and why. He is particularly interested in how the housing benefits of low-income
residents are affected by the changes. The project has received seed-funding from UCLA's
Ziman Center for Real Estate and the International Institute.
Another project is focused on colonias, border region settlements that lack
infrastructure and decent housing, and trailer parks in California. The objective is to
assess upgrading policies and needs in these areas, and examine the potential of
frameworks from developing countries. This work is funded by the California Policy
Research Center and UCLA's Institute of Industrial Relations. Professor Mukhija is
exploring the possibility of extending the research to California's Central Valley in
partnership with the California Rural Legal Assistance, an organization dedicated to the
civil and human rights of the rural poor. Finally, he is also evaluating the
effectiveness of existing inclusionary housing programs in Los Angeles and Orange
Counties. The project, funded by the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, will
provide lessons for inclusionary housing policies in the city of Los Angeles.
Professor Mukhija is trained as an urban planner (Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Urban Planning and Development), urban designer (University of Hong Kong),
and architect (University of Texas, Austin, and the School of Planning and Architecture,
New Delhi). Some of his past research and consulting projects have been funded by the
Fannie Mae Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), and the World Bank.
Professor Mukhija regularly teaches courses on Housing in Developing Countries, Land Use
Planning, and the Physical Planning Studio. He has also taught a comprehensive project on
increasing housing density in Los Angeles. a seminar on Los Angeles' Little Tokyo
district, and an international and comparative workshop in Mumbai. |
