Manish Chalana

Professor

I approach urban planning through the lenses of urban design, historic preservation, urban history, and equity & social justice. I hold degrees in Architecture, Architectural Conservation (from the School of Planning & Architecture), Landscape Architecture (M’LArch from Penn State), and Urban Planning (Ph.D. from the University of Colorado). In addition to my primary appointment in the Department of Urban Design & Planning at the University of Washington (UW), I am an adjunct in the Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and a member of the South Asia Program in the Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS). Prior to joining UW, I taught as a graduate student/lecturer at the University of Colorado and Pennsylvania State University. I have also worked in India with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation of India (HUDCO). Furthermore, I consult on international projects, primarily in the area of historic preservation. I am one of the two founding directors of the Center for Preservation and Adaptive Reuse (CPAR), which seeks to connect academia with the practice of historic preservation. I also serve as the Director of the Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation in the University of Washington.

I have taught a variety of courses, including study abroad programs, lectures, seminars, and studios. My graduate seminars include American Urban History and Introduction to Historic Preservation. I also teach History, Form, and Ethics in the core curriculum for the Master of Urban Planning (MUP) program, along with the Race and Social Justice seminar. My studios typically focus on urban design and historic preservation, engaging sites in the Pacific Northwest. For study abroad programs, I have led quarter-long courses in Chandigarh, India (co-led with Prakash), and month-long exploration seminars in the Kumaon region of the upper Himalayas, where students study urban design, planning, and preservation. I have also co-taught study abroad programs in China and Japan with my colleagues Dan Abramson and Bob Freitag, covering topics such as hazard mitigation and cultural resilience. My teaching has been appreciated by students, and I have twice been recognized by the CBE’s Lionel Pries Distinguished Professor Award.

My research interests center around diversity and social justice within the fields of historic preservation and urban planning. I explore these topics both in my teaching and through service. I have served on the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee (HPAC) of the 4Culture Cultural Services Agency for King County. I continue to mentor a student intern working to uncover systemic biases in the listing of historic sites in King County, where underrepresented minority communities have been historically excluded. I have also served on the UW Diversity Council’s Campus Climate Committee, which inspired me to co-found our department’s Diversity Committee (with Branden Born). Currently, I serve on the College of Built Environments (CBE) Diversity Council, and I chair the Equity and Inclusion in Preservation Education (EIPE) Committee of the National Council of Preservation Educators (NCPE). Through these roles, I strive to create a welcoming environment for underrepresented minority students and to ensure that preservation education does not privilege the histories and memories of dominant groups. Additionally, I serve as the Membership Chair for the NCPE.

I publish on topics related to urban design, planning history, and preservation in journals such as Future Anterior, the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning History, and Planning Perspectives. I co-edited a book on urbanism in Asia (with Jeff Hou), titled Messy Urbanism: Understanding the “Other” Cities of Asia. My most recent edited volume (with Ashima Krishna) on preservation practice in India, Heritage Conservation in Postcolonial India: Approaches and Challenges, was published by Routledge Press in 2021. As a Fulbright Fellow, I am currently expanding my work into a book on the diversity deficit in Indian preservation practice.