About P-U-C
Productive Urbansim Collective was established with the purpose of bringing together like-minded individuals and practices in the fields of urban design research, landscape design, urban agriculture, food design, mapping, and cartographies. The collective aims to create a collaborative environment where members can share their ideas, knowledge, and expertise to advance research and innovation in these domains.
Looking ahead, PUC aims to become a truly collective entity in coming years that is defined by the shared values and goals of its members. It also hopes to support young researchers and collaborate with industry for providing solutions. Some of the projects involving Mansi Shah were done prior to the establishment of the research collective and are not directly connected to it. However, these projects are still significant building blocks in the evolution of the collective’s ideas and can inform its future projects and direction.
Formed in Nov 2022, it hopes to become a space for connecting, interacting, building ideas, supporting new research, offering solutions, and a space to connect with practitioners.
Team
Mansi Shah
mansi.shah@cept.ac.in
mansi.arch@gmail.com
Academia / Researchgate / Issuu
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram/
Updates / Publications
Mansi Shah is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Planning at CEPT University, where she teaches in the Bachelor of Urban Design program. Her areas of interest encompass landscape design, ecology, food urbanism, and mapping. She has organised several studios related to these subjects, such as “Eco Warriors [Edible to Productive Urbanism]” and “Rebel Bodies Rebel Cities.”
She has a keen interest in pedagogy and research. She has carried out several publications, workshops (‘Common Voids, 2016’, ‘Sustainable Living Practicum: Rainforest farming edition 2015’), and exhibitions (‘Chowk Networks 2016- Ahmedabad’, ‘Feral City 2015- NID’, ‘Japan Foundation-Delhi’, ‘Yokohama Civic Art Gallery- Japan’, Prathaa 2012, Cept University, Beyond Green 2010- Salone del Mobile) to explore innovative ways to support her research and learning for students.
With teaching, she works on her independent research projects on different subjects under ‘Productive Urbanism Collective’ (a research collaborative focused on urban landscapes as productive and performative spaces), ‘Ahmedabad Mapping Project’ (an initiative to gather information about the city and represent it through maps and cartography), ‘City Water Walks’ (a project to understand how the urban commons function and how are they are affected by constant changes in governance and development) and ‘Pocket-garden’.
Her recent book is ‘Rebel Bodies Rebel Cities’ co-authored with Victor Cano-Ciborro, published by CEPT University Press in 2022. It is a teaching and research project that examines the complexities of urban public spaces and the importance of acknowledging competing stakeholder interests to create more inclusive and equitable environments. She has also co-authored the book ‘Prathaa: Kath-khuni Architecture of Himachal Pradesh’ as a senior researcher at Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre, DICRC. The research project was also recognised by the International Zumtobel Group Awards 2012 in Research and Special Initiatives category with honourable mention.
Collaborator
Soha Gandhi
sohagandhi.bud@gmail.com
Instagram/
Soha Gandhi is an Urban Designer graduated from CEPT University in Ahmedabad. Her work and research currently revolves around ecological planning, water management, and creating productive landscapes. She is deeply interested in exploring practices that combine urbanism and ecology as mutually interdependent systems. She is working as Landscape designer and Researcher at Metabolic office. She is also a collaborator and co-partnering in projects at Productive Urbanism Collective since May 2024.
Projects before PUC
City Water Walk | Team: Renu Desai, Dipani Sutaria, Vrushti Mawani, Mansi Shah
Rebel Bodies Rebel Cites | Authors: Victor Cano Ciborro and Mansi Shah
Prathaa: Kath-khuni architecture of Himachal Pradesh | Authors: Bharat Dave, Jay Thakkar and Mansi Shah
Botanizing the Asphalt for EnteKochi National Urban Design Competition | Team: Sonal Mithal, Prasanth Narayanan, Kruti Shah, Shalini Prakash, Mansi Shah and Sebastian Trujillov
Exhibition
Unit Occupied Exhibition at LxS 7 March – 21 March 2020, Collaboration between LxS (Local to Society) and Unit Occupied (B.UD, CEPT University)
Collaborations
(before and post PUC)
