The School of Economic Development (SED) at IIHS focuses 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.
In the IIHS (Institution Deemed to be) University, the School co-anchors the Master’s in Urban Economic and Infrastructure Development (MUEID) programme, and supports the Doctoral Programme.