Advancing sustainable and equitable economic transitions
The School of Economic Development (SED) at the IIHS (Institution Deemed to be) University is focused on sustainable and equitable economic transitions across human settlements, through practices embedded in social, political, and ecological relationships. It prioritises space and place, people, and institutions and infrastructure, in fostering economic change, and addressing inequality, informality, institutional capacities, and sustainability.
The SED works across the public–private spectrum of economic agents and draws on heterodox schools of economic thought and enquiry, across geography, sociology, anthropology, and planning, including fields such as political economy, economic geography, regional science, public finance, development economics, labour geography, industrial sociology, political ecology, urban economics, and economic history.
In keeping with the broader goal of place-based research and practice from the Global South, the SED’s thematics are informed by the challenges of social and spatial inequality, informality, social determinants of economic marginalisation, ecological unsustainability, and gaps in institutional, financial and regulatory capacities to foster sustainable economic transitions in Indian urban regions.
The SED co-anchors the University’s Master’s in Urban Economic and Infrastructure Development programme, and supports the Doctoral Programme. It supports other Master’s programmes through the Core Courses and a range of Elective Course.
The SED has contributed to teaching in the IIHS Urban Fellows Programme. In the Commons, it offered modules on Introduction to the Urban Economy; Planning in the Urban; and Planning, Economy, and Governance, providing students with a foundational understanding of economic systems, planning processes, and governance structures in urban contexts. Its Elective Courses (Urban and Regional Economic Development; Digital Labour Markets; Work, Labour, and Informality in the Urban; Economic Approaches to the Urban; and Shivajinagar as Economy’s Infrastructure: A Spatial Story Perspective) explored economic transformations, labour dynamics, and spatial-economic interconnections in cities.
Additionally, the SED conducted Skill Labs and Methods courses, particularly on quantitative methods, equipping students with essential analytical and computational skills for urban research and practice.
The SED’s research connects themes linked to economic transitions and urban and regional economic development, balanced with social, economic, and ecological outcomes.
The research aimed to redefine infrastructure delivery—across energy, water, sanitation, transport, and communication—to better support the food and nutrition needs of marginalised residents. It examined city-level interactions, impacts, and coping strategies. The project included training workshops and materials for practitioners, aiming to shift how planners and decision-makers understand food-infrastructure linkages and to support those not fully ‘on-grid’. The project worked across sites in Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and India, and was conducted in partnership with Institute of Development Studies (IDS)–University of Sussex, and was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)–Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
The study examined how access to higher education was enabled for students from traditionally disenfranchised backgrounds (along by class and caste dimensions) through identity and community-based preparatory institutions. It focused on certain community and identity-based preparatory spaces that facilitate access for historically oppressed students. It explored student and stakeholder experiences, and these spaces’ roles in students’ educational journeys, daily practices, and identity negotiations within an expanding higher education system. It was funded by the Spencer Foundation.
This project examined paid and unpaid domestic work through a 10,000-household survey in Bengaluru and Chennai. It focused on employers’ perspectives on work quality, wages, labour rights, and social protection. Three reports presented findings on household reproduction, deficits in decent work, and employer attitudes. The project was conducted in partnership with Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), and was part of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Work in Freedom programme.
This project examined the extent and location of India’s population living in settlements with urban-like density, infrastructure needs, and labour markets. It challenged Census classifications of urban areas and provided an internationally comparable, empirically grounded dataset on urbanisation for research and policy. The project was funded by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)–International Growth Centre (IGC).
As part of the Hungry Cities Partnership, IIHS investigated Bengaluru’s urban food system, carried out a household survey on food security, and analysed the informal food economy through a survey of informal food businesses, examining links between urbanisation, food security, informality, and inclusive growth. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Canada) and African Centre for Cities (ACC)–University of Cape Town, the project ran from 2015 to 2019.
This project explored how energy transition investments can promote social equity and support a just transition. It worked with institutional actors, including development finance institutions, to align energy goals with social justice outcomes. The project highlighted how the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy can contribute to achieving SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), and also SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions). Led by Utrecht University in collaboration with Stellenbosch University and the University of Freiburg, the project was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
IIHS, in partnership with the University of Cape Town and Durham University, is studying how peripheralisation, climate change, and inequalities intersect to provide insights into urban development.
IIHS examined how platforms’ business and design choices perpetuate exclusions and developed strategies for more inclusive platform governance. The project addressed three sectors increasingly shaped by digital platforms: domestic work, manufacturing, and street vending. Project partners included the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Labournet, and Rajasthan Mahila Kamgar Union (RMKU), and was funded by the Gates Foundation.
This research stream of the PEAK Urban project studied the role of industrial mega-infrastructure in Bengaluru’s transition to a service-sector economy. It examined questions of state rescaling, the role of non-state actors in the process of planning and developing these projects, their policy implications, and the historical trajectory that has led to this approach to infrastructure development. It was conducted in partnership with universities in UK, China, Colombia and South Africa, and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)–Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
This research stream of the PEAK Urban project traced Bengaluru’s post-liberalisation industrial transformation, by examining economic changes, looking at proximate and historical reasons or the decline of certain types of manufacturing within the city and the transitional impacts on particular industries, impacts of industrial location on specific parts of the city, and work and upward mobility in sub-sectors of services economy. It was conducted in partnership with universities in UK, China, Colombia and South Africa, and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)–Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
This research stream of the PEAK Urban project examined how land financialisation restructures urban capital flows through case studies of Bengaluru’s international airport, Namma Metro and the municipal body. It also explored links between urban land and equity/debt financing in Indian real estate, especially housing, and how shifts in financial circuits affect developer-led construction. The project was conducted in partnership with universities from UK, China, Colombia and South Africa, and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)–Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
This research examined the conditions of women workers in India’s platform economy, focusing on sectors like microtasking, freelancing, ed-tech, and BPOs in the AI supply chain. It compared women’s experiences with men’s amid rapid platformisation disrupting informal employment and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on labour policy. It was conducted in partnership with Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), and funded by International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The project investigated the impact of India’s corridor model as a strategy for urbanisation and urban development through the lens of land and economic development. It looked at the potential impacts of planned corridors and the opportunity to better integrate spatial and economic planning, particularly in the context of large infrastructure investments and newly urbanising areas. It was supported by and conducted in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science’s (LSE’s)–International Growth Centre (IGC).
For any inquiries or further information, please write to contactus@iihs.ac.in.
