FEATURED AUTHOR

Jigna Desai

Associate Professor
Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University

Jigna is an architect with a masters degree in Theory and Practice of Sustainable Design from Cardiff University and a doctorate in Conservation Studies from CEPT University. Currently she serve as Program Chair for Masters in Conservation and Regeneration at CEPT U and as an Executive Director of Center for Heritage Conservation at the same place. She keenly interested in negotiations underlying the processes and practices that transform the built environment and how it affects the day to day.

Subjects: Built Environment, Environment and Sustainability, Museum and Heritage Studies

Biography

Dr. Jigna Desai is an Associate Professor and is Program Chair for Masters in Conservation and Regeneration at the Faculty of Architecture. She has also been appointed as an Executive Director of Center for Heritage Conservation at CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). Presently, her area of study is to arrive at frameworks, tools and methods, through which theoretical ideas of sustainability and conservation of living historic environments can be translated into practice, while addressing the challenges of (co)production of space and commodification of heritage. This area of interest was triggered through her involvement with preparing the World Heritage Dossier for the Historic City of Ahmedabad where she has closely observed the transformations within the historic city. She is also a director at a small, award winning practice - JMA Design Co that she co-founded with Mehul Bhatt in 1999. She has worked extensively on architecture projects and conservation research in different parts of India, carried out advocacy for community-based conservation in partnership with national and international institutions. She was invited to be a part of the Gyeonju Declaration for World Heritage Cities in the Asia Pacific region in September 2015, is an Associate member of the International Scientific Committee for Historic Towns and Villages, International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and is an active member of ICOMOS, India. Jigna has been teaching since 2002 at various institutions in India before joining CEPT University in full-time capacity in 2009. She brings to the institute, her experience in working with traditional urban environments and framing how traditional architecture may be understood, studied and transformed.

Education

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Personal Interests

Books

Featured Title

Articles

Paradox of protection

Published: Sep 15, 2018 by Ahmedabad and her stories, Seminar, India
Authors: Jigna Desai
Subjects: Built Environment

The narrative of protecting heritage, or a particular evidence of history, image or identity, not unlike patriarchal protectionism attributes the responsibility and authority of decision-making to a specified set of people in positions of authority. This article studies these processes on ground to make an argument with reference to the embedded violence of top down processes that irreversibly transforms the day to day dynamic relationships. The article argues for Co-Production of spaces.

Gendered Encounters, Engendered Places

Published: May 15, 2018 by Democratising Heritage, Seminar, India
Authors: Jigna Desai
Subjects: Built Environment

The article studies the day to day movement of women in the historic city of Ahmedabad to problematise the heritage narratives and the resultant inserts/ projects. It dwells deeper into the question of, does World Heritage tag take away the life from cities?