Shubhi Sonal

Senior Manager- School of Systems & Infrastructure (SSI) | ssonal at iihs dot ac dot in
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EDUCATION:

2021    PhD, Urban Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine arts University, Hyderabad

2014    MPlan, City Planning, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal

2006    BArch, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi

 

 

   

Countries: India
States: Delhi, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana
Cities: Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Kolkata
Languages: English, Hindi

Shubhi Sonal is an urban planner- architect with a specialisation in urban quality of life studies at neighborhood scales. Shubhi’s PhD research was centred on building a quality-of-life optimisation framework for dense urban neighborhoods in Bangalore. Shubhi has considerable experience in curating, managing, and delivering academic programs and has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at various universities in Bangalore. In her last role, Shubhi was working as an associate professor and head of an academic vertical at the School of Architecture, REVA University, Bangalore. Her responsibilities included curation and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in architecture and design. She also spearheaded collaborations with national and international partners and contributed towards institutional brand building and outreach. Shubhi’s most recent research work have been focussed on delineating and defining fluid public spaces in the sub city scale. Her previous research projects include survey-based studies for data driven approach towards inclusive urban transportation in Indian cities, Smart housing for diverse user groups etc. She has also guided student projects aimed at data collection and documentation of vernacular architecture of various climatic zones in rural Karnataka.

 

Shubhi has delivered international guest lectures and webinars on a gamut of topics including urban data applications for quality-of-life optimization, public space design, research writing in architecture, pedagogical advances for teaching architecture and more.

 

At IIHS, Shubhi is a part of the core team tasked with building out the IIHS School of Systems and Infrastructure. Her core responsibilities include strategic and operational planning for the functioning of the school and to facilitate collaborations with different programs and schools.

Journal Articles

  • Sonal, S., (2022). Effective public space: a quality of life catalyst for dense urban neighbourhoods: evidences from Bengaluru, India. New Design Ideas, 6(2), 176-192.
  • Sonal, S. (2021). Quality despite density? Learnings on quality of life from dense urban residential neighbourhoods: Bengaluru, India. International Journal of Urban Planning, 41-62. https://doi.org/10.6092/2281-4574/8809

 

Books/Book Chapters

  • Sonal S., Ugrani, P., Srikanth, V (Eds.). (2023). WH3- Bengaluru: Inquiries into architecture and urbanism. REVA University.
  • Sonal, S., & Anupadma, R. (2021). Revolutionizing geriatric design in developing countries: IOT‐Enabled smart home design for the elderly. In A. Solanki, A. Kumar & A. Nayyar (Eds.), Digital cities roadmap: IOT‐based architecture and sustainable buildings (pp. 193-220). Wiley.
  • Sonal, S. (2021, January 25-27). Subliminal identities: Gender shifting religious practices in South India. Paper presented at the International Conference on Urban religion, gender and body, Asia Research Institute; National University of Singapore.
  • Sonal, S., & Kumar, S. (2020). Urban data application towards quality of life optimization in Indian cities. In D. Janakiram, N. Sharma & S. Srinivasa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Urban Data Science, CEUR Workshop proceedings, Vol-2557, (pp. 81-95). CEUR;RWTH Aachen University. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2557
  • Sonal, S., & Kumar, S. (2020). Urban data application towards quality of life optimization in Indian cities. In D. Janakiram, N. Sharma & S. Srinivasa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Urban Data Science, CEUR Workshop proceedings, Vol-2557, (pp. 81-95). CEUR;RWTH Aachen University. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2557
  • Sonal, S., & Kumar, S. (2019, June 19-20). Framework for social quality assessment of dense urban neighbourhoods. In International conference on Energy & sustainable built environment: Design today, Save future, ICESBE. Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Gedik University, Istanbul.
  • Srikanth, V., & Sonal, S. (2018). Start smart, stay smart: Use of 1 smartphones in architectural pedagogy. In International conference on Paradox to Paradigm: Architecture in the age of network society (pp. 187 – 192). WES’ SMMCA.
  • Sonal, S. (2017). How liveable is my density: Exploring density liveability relationship in the context of urban residential neighbourhoods. In International conference on sustainable built environment- II. Indian Institute of Technology.
  • Shubhi S., & Maitreyi Y. (2015, August, 3-5). Framework for gender audit of urban transportation. Paper presented at the Xth International Conference on public policy and management, Indian Institute of Management.
  • Shubhi S. (2014, November 6-7). The living heritage of Durga puja pandals: temporary urbanism, permanent resilience. Paper presented at the The resilience of vernacular heritage in Asian cities conference, ARI, NUS.