We propose a "People's HDI" focusing on resident experiences. Going beyond income and health, it will measure factors like access to technology, accessibility, safety, and community engagement. This resident-centric approach aims to identify thriving urban spaces and inform policies that prioritise well-being for all, especially the marginalised.

Through this project, we plan to examine play spaces as experienced by children from construction workers, safai karamcharis, and slum dweller families as compared to those occupying gated community parks within our cities. Without traditional public parks, economically disadvantaged children utilize alternative spaces for play around their neighbourhood, imbuing meaning into those environments, even in resource-limited contexts. We examine how environments – gated communities and alternative spaces – influence how children navigate play and community and the crucial role of city planning in children’s lives.

This project intends to investigate how digital interventions for health play out in an urban space, by studying the nature of non-adoption of Aarogya Setu. As the Covid-19 pandemic raged on in India, and the use of the app became mandatory in several settings (air travel, entry into some offices, etc), several people did not use the app for reasons of privacy and quality of the app, several others did not use or have cellphones and therefore could not use the app, and yet others simply did not need to use it. The use of this app in a tightly controlled situation such as the Covid-19 lockdown can provide useful insights into the public attitudes in India to the politics of technologies.

This project investigates the socio-spatial impact of evictions in Delhi over the past decade. It explores the complex interplay between urban development, forced displacement, and global economic forces driving these evictions. Through a mixed-methods approach, the research will analyse past large-scale evictions using secondary literature. This analysis will map demographic shifts caused by these evictions and identify areas most affected. To capture the lived experiences of these evictions, the study will then delve deeper through ethnographic research in select case study slums. By engaging with communities displaced or facing imminent eviction, the project aims to capture their narratives and understand the long-term repercussions of evictions on their lives. This combined approach will shed light on the spatial dimensions of urban inequality in Delhi, revealing how evictions not only displace people but also reshape the city's social and economic landscape.

This project examines the Anganwadi as a social reproduction site where inequalities of gender, caste, and class are both reinforced and challenged. The project addresses the question: How does gender, caste and class structures influence how women claim entitlements of care from the state? Ethnographic fieldwork for this project was conducted in Anganwadis in Tamil Nadu. Primary data for this study includes (1) ethnographic notes and observations at the Anganwadis, official meetings, and rallies (2) semi-structured interviews with Anganwadi workers, mothers, Anganwadi union leaders, and state representatives. (3) archival data, including policy documents, training manuals, newsletters, government orders, and documents from the Anganwadi workers union.