Ms. Ranjani Balasubramanian
Adjunct Faculty, School of Liberal Arts and Design Studies
Former Faculty and Course Leader at
Srishti Manipal Institute
Co-Founder of Glocal CoLab
Strategy and
Design consultant at NIITI Consulting
Undertaken
Ranjani Balasubramanian is a designer, facilitator and researcher. She is a founder of Glocal CoLab, which is a design research and education organization that works towards building organizations and communities that are resilient and regenerative. She is also a co-founder of the Living Cities Earth Network. She is trained as an architect, has a Masters in Urbanism and Strategic Spatial Planning and has worked in sustainable architecture, urban infrastructure development and smart cities. She has been a faculty member at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology for 6 years. Her research over the last six years focuses on Design for Resilience and Sustainable Product Service Systems Design. She has coordinated the India chapter of Learning Networks for Sustainability International and has co- authored international research on the subject of distributed economies. The aim of this work has been to build capacity in sustainability and systems thinking. As a facilitator, her area of focus has been building frameworks for community led research and development. Her work has included engagements with communities, organizations, academics and governments in Gubbi, Bangalore, Wayanad and Sindhudurg through the format of long term engagements on livelihoods, agriculture, waste management, disaster resilience and service systems design.She is currently a PhD scholar at Srishti Manipal, working in the field of decolonization of urban planning
Professional Education
- Bachelor in Architecture - 2006
- Masters in Urbanism and Strategic Planning - 2014
- PhD Scholar, Manipal University, 2024 - Present
Teaching Courses
- Integrative Design Studios
- Environmental Communication Design
Research Interests
- Regenerative Decolonial Futures
- Design for Sustainability
- Indigenous knowledge systems for sustainable habitats
Selected Publications
- 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 More Retrieved from Read More
Research Projects Undertaken
- 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.
Ms. Ranjani Balasubramanian
Adjunct Faculty, School of Liberal Arts and Design Studies
Former Faculty and Course Leader at
Srishti Manipal Institute,
Co-Founder of Glocal CoLab
Strategy and
Design consultant
at NIITI Consulting,
Ranjani Balasubramanian is a designer, facilitator and researcher. She is a founder of Glocal CoLab, which is a design research and education organization that works towards building organizations and communities that are resilient and regenerative. She is also a co-founder of the Living Cities Earth Network. She is trained as an architect, has a Masters in Urbanism and Strategic Spatial Planning and has worked in sustainable architecture, urban infrastructure development and smart cities. She has been a faculty member at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology for 6 years. Her research over the last six years focuses on Design for Resilience and Sustainable Product Service Systems Design. She has coordinated the India chapter of Learning Networks for Sustainability International and has co- authored international research on the subject of distributed economies. The aim of this work has been to build capacity in sustainability and systems thinking. As a facilitator, her area of focus has been building frameworks for community led research and development. Her work has included engagements with communities, organizations, academics and governments in Gubbi, Bangalore, Wayanad and Sindhudurg through the format of long term engagements on livelihoods, agriculture, waste management, disaster resilience and service systems design.
- Bachelor in Architecture - 2006
- Masters in Urbanism and Strategic Planning - 2014
- PhD Scholar, Manipal University, 2024 - Present
- Integrative Design Studios
- Environmental Communication 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 More Retrieved from Read More
- 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.
