The UCLA Asian American Studies Center is very pleased to announce that Dr. Vinit Mukhija has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning. An active member of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center’s Faculty Advisory Committee, he also has an appointment with the Department of Asian American Studies.

Professor Mukhija’s research focuses on affordable housing in developing countries, and Third World-like housing conditions in the United States. He is interested in the globalization of ideas and institutions of housing and land development. His research evaluates the potential and pitfalls of institutions from developed countries - such as Transfer of Development Rights, inclusionary housing, property rights, and mortgage finance - in housing delivery in developing countries, and the relevance of housing ideas and frameworks from developing countries - such as incremental development, micro-finance, informality, and collective upgrading - in developed countries.

He argues that comparative approaches deepen and transform our understanding of urbanization and development, and help reveal unexpected avenues for policy and social change. In addition, he is interested in research on institutional actors performing contrary to conventional wisdom, including effective public sector programs and successful collective action endeavors. Such contrarian approaches also help increase the range of options available to policymakers. His first book, Squatters As Developers?: Slum Demolition and Redevelopment in Mumbai, India (King’s SOAS Studies in Development Geography. 2003), is based on extensive fieldwork in Mumbai, and makes these arguments by following a case study of a cooperative of slum-dwellers.

Professor Mukhija’s fascination with Mumbai is ongoing. His current project examines how the city’s redevelopment programs for slums, chawls (tenements), and mills are changing and why. He is particularly interested in how the housing benefits of low-income residents are affected by the changes. The project has received seed-funding from UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate and the International Institute.

Another project is focused on colonias, border region settlements that lack infrastructure and decent housing, and trailer parks in California. The objective is to assess upgrading policies and needs in these areas, and examine the potential of frameworks from developing countries. This work is funded by the California Policy Research Center and UCLA’s Institute of Industrial Relations. Professor Mukhija is exploring the possibility of extending the research to California’s Central Valley in partnership with the California Rural Legal Assistance, an organization dedicated to the civil and human rights of the rural poor. Finally, he is also evaluating the effectiveness of existing inclusionary housing programs in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The project, funded by the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, will provide lessons for inclusionary housing policies in the city of Los Angeles.

Professor Mukhija is trained as an urban planner (Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Urban Planning and Development), urban designer (University of Hong Kong), and architect (University of Texas, Austin, and the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi). Some of his past research and consulting projects have been funded by the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the World Bank.

Professor Mukhija regularly teaches courses on Housing in Developing Countries, Land Use Planning, and the Physical Planning Studio. He has also taught a comprehensive project on increasing housing density in Los Angeles. a seminar on Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district, and an international and comparative workshop in Mumbai.