Newcastle University

Introduction

Romola Sanyal is Lecturer in Global Urbanism in Architecture Planning and Landscape where her teaching, research and publications focus on Urban Studies and international development. Her most recent research involved a critical analysis of urbanization of refugee spaces in the Middle East and South Asia. The study brought together distinct fields of Urban Studies and Refugee Studies while interrogating the camp through practices of urban informality. Her forthcoming research interrogates how the 'global development project' is sustained through the production of empathetic tourism. To do so, the research explores geographies and aesthetics of 'poverty' and 'suffering' such as slum theme parks, favela and refugee tourism.

Qualifications

 B.A. City and Regional Planning (minor programme in European Studies), University of California, Berkeley

M.Sc. Cities, Space and Society (Geography), London School of Economics and Political Science

Ph.D. Architecture, (Architectural History and Environmental Design in Developing Countries) University of California, Berkeley

Previous Positions

I joined APL in 2010. Before that I was a Teaching Fellow in the department of Geography, University College London, OpenSpace Research Associate at the Open University (2010) and the inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow at the Chao Center for Asian Studies, Rice University, Houston, Texas.  

1) Displacement and Urbanization- Specific focus on refugees in the Middle East (Lebanon) and South Asia (India)

2) Empathy and Tourism-  Specific focus on aesthetic productions and tours of suffering (slum tours, refugee camps tours, slum theme parks) and aid work.

3) Urban Segregation- Specific focus on religion and conflict and its effects on segregation in South Asia (India)

4) Vernacular Architecture- Specific focus on the discursive production of 'vernacular' and how it is consumed.

Funding and Awards:

HASS Faculty Research Fund (2011) for seed funding for project on Exhibiting Injustice: Development and the Theme Park.
Social Science Research Council Book Fellowship (2009-10)
Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2006-07)
Al Falah Fellowship (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley) (2006-07)
Spiro Kostof Award (UC Berkeley) (2003)
Eva Li Fellowship (UC Berkeley) (2003) 

TCP 8935: Asian Cities (module leader)

TCP 8920: Planning in Developing Countries Project (fieldtrip to India) (module leader)

• Sanyal R. Hindu Space: Urban Dislocations in Post-Partition Calcutta. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 2011. Submitted.
• Desai R, Sanyal R, ed. Urbanizing Citizenship: Contested Spaces in Indian Cities. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd, 2011.
• Sanyal R. 'Urbanizing Refuge: Using the City to Interrogate Spaces of Displacement'. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 2011. Submitted.
• Sanyal R. Squatting in Camps: Building and Insurgency in Spaces of Refuge. Urban Studies 2011, 48(5), 877-890.
• Sanyal R. Contesting Refugeehood: Squatting as Survival in Post-Partition Calcutta. Social Identities 2009, 15(1), 67-84.
• Sanyal R. Poverty as a 'Theme Park': Christian Norms and Philanthropic Forms of Habitat for Humanity. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 2004, 15(2), 19-31.