- Emerging Territories
About me
Experienced urban planning educator, researcher and practitioner with over 25 years in higher education and consulting experience in 50+ countries on integrated green and resilient urban development and prioritised investment plans. Teaching experience spans RTPl-accredited planning programmes at postgraduate levels, supported by extensive UK and international practice in planning. regeneration, environmental management and urban development. Passionate about linking planning theory with practice to enhance student leaning and employability.
Supervises PhD and post-graduate students on multi-disciplinary topics.
Fellow, UK HEA Higher Education Academy
Invited evaluator, GEF Global Environment Facility - integrated cities programme
UK expert, JTC4 Joint Technical Committee on 'Smart Cities and Sustainable Communities' of the ISO Intemational Standards Organisation EC International Electro-technical commission
Expert, World Bank GPSC Platform for Sustainable Cities
Fellow. RGS Royal Geographical Society
Member, RTPI IDN International Development Network
Teaching
Supporting postgraduate teaching and research supervision for more than 20 years at University of Westminster. Teaching students across multiple courses such as urban and regional planning, urban design, transport planning, aviation, business, tourism, life sciences, international affairs. energy policy and communications.
Module Leader (ongoing) Planning for urban Risk & Resilience (co-founder of the RTPI accredited PG course on International Planning & Sustainable development)
Module Leader (ongoing) Environmental Policy, Assessment and Climate Change. Module Tutor (ongoing) Sustainable Cities and neighborhoods.
Module Tutor (ongoing) Dissertation and major projects PhD supervision (ongoing)
Research
Research across multiple disciplines and aspects of urban development and specifically on water and wastewater resilience in recent years. Some illustrative examples below:
Sandang, Y., Cole, S. and Kalra, R., 2026. Rethinking tourism-water heritage relations under climate change. Annals of Tourism Research, 120, p.104255.
Kalra, R., 2023. Support for Multi-Hazard Risk Reduction in Urban Local Bodies. Halduskultuur, 22(1), pp.66-79.
Basu, I. and KALRA, R., 2022. The democratic prospects of digital urban futures: Lessons from India’s Smart Cities Mission. The Journal of Indian and Asian Studies, 3(02), p.2240007.
Kalra, R., 2005. Resource Maps and the Community Asset Management (CAM) Approach. Open House International, 30(2), pp.8-18.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.