Ranjani Balasubramanian is a designer, facilitator, and researcher dedicated to advancing resilience and regeneration in communities and organizations. She is the founder of Glocal CoLab, a design research and education organization, and co-founder of the Living Cities Earth Network. Trained as an architect and urban planner with a Master’s in Urbanism and Strategic Spatial Planning, she has diverse experience in sustainable architecture, urban infrastructure development, smart cities, and urban planning. Previously, she served as faculty and course leader at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology for six years.

Over the past years, Ranjani’s research has centered on Design for Resilience and Sustainable Systems Design. She has coordinated the India chapter of Learning Networks for Sustainability International and collaboratively authored international research on distributed economies. Her work emphasizes building capacity in sustainability and systems thinking.

As a facilitator, Ranjani specializes in frameworks for place based research and design. Her initiatives span diverse areas such as livelihoods, education, waste management, disaster resilience, and ecological engagement.

Currently pursuing a PhD at Srishti Manipal, Ranjani’s work explores the decolonization of urban planning, aiming to reimagine inclusive and equitable futures for urban habitats.

• Bachelor in Architecture - 2011
• Masters in Urbanism and Strategic Planning - 2014
• Ph.D Scholar, Manipal University, 2024 - Present

• Integrative Design Studios
• Environmental Communication Design
• Information Architecture and Design

• Regenerative Decolonial Futures
• Design for Sustainability
• Indigenous knowledge systems for sustainable habitats

Edited Books

• Srivastav, S., & Balasubramanian, R. (2022). Sustainability – a decolonizing practice. Seminar Magazine, (750), 70-74.
• Balasubramanian R., Vezzoli C., Ceschin F., Matthew J., Sinha A., Neusiedl C. (2021) Integrating S.PSS and DE. In: Vezzoli C., Garcia Parra B., Kohtala C. (eds) Designing Sustainability for All. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. Read More Retrieved from Read More
• dos Santos A. et al. (2021) Distributed Economies. In: Vezzoli C., Garcia Parra B., Kohtala C. (eds) Designing Sustainability for All. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. Read MoreRetrieved fromRead More

• Decolonizing the Urban Imagination, PhD Research, 2024 - Present.
• Regenerative Futures and Decolonization, Glocal CoLab, 2023-present.
• Disaster Resilience Strategies for Wayanad, 2018 – 2021.
• Sustainable Product Service Systems and Distributed Economies, LeNSin, 2017-2020.