Vision
IIHS was established in 2008 as a national education institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of Indian settlements.
OVERVIEW
Reimagining Urban India Through Knowledge and Practice
By 2047, India’s urban population is projected to rise from 450 million to 850 million, representing the largest rural-to-urban transition in human history. This transition is not only demographic; it is fundamentally transforming India’s economy, society, culture, natural and built environments, as well as politics.
This moment requires new forms of knowledge, institutions, and practice that are capable of engaging with complexity at scale. IIHS was established by a group of eminent Indians from across public life, academia, industry, and civil society to respond to this gap.
IIHS works across India's urban–rural continuum, from mega-cities to small towns.
“Breaking from the constraints and silos of thetraditional one-department, one-discipline model.”
IIHS ACADEMIC VISION
Our Mission
IIHS’ mission is to enable India’s urban transformation over the 21st century by creating, applying, and disseminating India-centric knowledge and applied research rooted in the country’s plural cultures, landscapes, languages, scholarship, and Constitutional values.
We work towards this mission
Transformative Urban Research
Undertaking interdisciplinary research and practice to build new knowledge that can be used to find solutions to apparently intractable development challenges, and to enable their adaptation, scaling, and replication across the country
Preparing Future Practitioners
Training a new generation of interdisciplinary urban practitioners, innovators and scholars who have the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to tackle the problems of 21st-century urbanisation
IIHS University
Interdisciplinary Knowledge for Systemic Urban Transformation
In pursuit of this mission, IIHS, as the Sponsoring Body, established the IIHS (Institution Deemed to Be) University , a heterodox, 21st-century interdisciplinary university and knowledge institution of global stature. The University addresses a strategic gap in India’s higher education system by engaging with sustainable urbanisation, including emerging interdisciplinary fields such as urban science, sustainability science, and climate science, as well as their intersections with governance, human development, and systems and infrastructure.
Get in touch with us
Connect with our team to learn more about our schools, programmes, and research initiatives.