Suneetha Dasappa Kacker

Suneetha Dasappa Kacker is an architect with an M.Phil. in housing and urban studies. She studied at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. While working on her undergraduate thesis, she developed an interest in shelter and urbanization processes. She pursued these during her Graduate studies at the Architectural Association Graduate School, in London. Her MPhil thesis was concerned with people-state negotiations for shelter in the context of New Delhi.

Suneetha has been involved with development plans for towns in various parts of India. She is currently working as urban specialist with Ecosmart India Limited, a consulting firm that provides environmental and social services in the infrastructure sector. For specific urban projects, she is responsible for assessing needs through stakeholder consultations, and analysis of issues, leading to identification of interventions. Her personal interest lies in analyzing planned and unplanned processes of participation in the urban sphere, and the impacts of these on the city and on urban policy.

Since 1987, Suneetha has also been involved with development issues in the Himalayan region of ladakh. She has documented settlement patterns, building traditions, skills and patterns of resource utilization over the years; and changes in these as a result of government policies, development activities and shifts in people’s perceptions. She has recently advised in, and supervised, the construction of a school building in a remote village in Spiti.