Associate Professor
B. Arch (UPTU APEEJAY School of Architecture and Planning) (2005-10)
MURP (CEPT University, Ahmadabad) (2010-12)
Certificate course on ‘Land Governance and Development’ at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands (2017)
Doctor of Philosophy (School of Government and Public Policy), Jindal Global University, India (Ongoing)
BIO
Aparna Soni is trained in architecture and urban & regional planning. She was educated at the AIT, SAP, Uttar Pradesh Technical University and CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She is presently pursuing her doctoral degree in public policy at the School of Government & Public Policy, JGU. Her research interests are at the intersection of law, land governance, urban policy, and political economy discourse on urban development. Being in academia since 2012, Aparna has taught across premier national institutions of India, including SPA Delhi, SPA Vijayawada, SPA Bhopal, and Jamia Milia Islamia. Having worked for MoPR, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, GIZ, RICS South Asia, and the European Union, Aparna has actively engaged in planning research and consultancy projects. She is also a training resource person for RICS South Asia, where she is involved in knowledge sessions for several real estate organisations and companies. Currently, she is researching the land assembly policy landscapes of India and their neoliberal shift, rediscovering the politics of policy making in India. She is also actively engaged in exploring rural spatial policy and rural property valuation. Aparna enjoys co-curricular activities like dramatics and light music.
Political economy of urban development and public policy
Urban law, politics, planning and property rights
Land transformation, administration and regulatory framework
Urban Governance
Corruption studies in land and urban development
Rural Spatial Policy and Law
2021- Agarwal, S., Nanda, T., Bali, R., & Soni, A. (2021). Feasibility of Using Information in Real Estate Regulatory Authority Database as Urban Land Data Repository. CSID Journal Of Infrastructure Development, 4(1), 122-138. doi:10.32783/csid-jid.v4i1.208
2020- Bali, R. & Soni, A., 2020. Environment and Real Estate Conundrum – A Case of Okhla Bird Sanctuary. IIPA, Vol LII (January- March 2020), pp. 68-89.
2020- Soni, A. & Nanda, T. P., 2020. Land Pooling Models in India: Emerging Lessons, Delhi: India Land and Development Conference- 2020. Available @ https://www.centerforland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Land-in-India-2020-28-FEB-2020.pdf
2016- N. Sridharan, R. Ray, A. Soni., 2016. ‘From Smart Agriculture to Smart Growth- a Case of Vijayawada Region’. In: T.M.V. Kumar, ed. Smart Economy in Smart Cities. Singapore: Springer, pp. 579 -597.
2016- Tathagata Chatterji, A. Soni., 2016. Positioning Urban Governance in Planning Pedagogy. In: A. Kumar, ed. Urban and Regional Planning Education. Singapore: Springer, pp. 61-77.
2012- Dr. N. Sridharan, A. Soni., 2012. Opinion paper "Mutated Governance, Political Participation and Development Dynamics: Case Study of Delhi". Durban Chance 2 Sustain EADI research project.
2012- Dr. N. Sridharan, A. Soni., 2012. Fiscal Decentralization, Participatory Processes & Inclusive Development: available at http://www.chance2sustain.eu/55.0.html (ISSN 2309-8201)
Conference papers
2024- Presented a paper titled ‘Muddling Through for Consensus: The Case of Delhi Land Policy, at the 5th India Public Policy Network Conference, held at IIT Powai from 6th to 8th December 2024.
2023- Presented a paper titled ‘The Shift in the land assembly practices of India’, at the ICCRIP 2023, an international conference on construction, Real estate, infrastructure, & project management, held in Pune from 11th August to 12th August 2023.
2022- Presented (online) a paper titled ‘The Silencing in the development saga India’ at the 16th Planning Law Property Rights (PLPR) International conference in Ghent, Belgium on 19th July 2022.
2020- Presented a paper titled ‘Negotiated Acquisition or Direct Purchase: An inquiry’ at the 4th India Land and Development Conference (ILDC 2020), New Delhi, 2nd March to 4th March 2020.
2019- Presented a paper titled ‘Experiments of Urban Land Supply and Development: India’ at the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference, Washington D.C. 25th to 28th March 2019.
2019- Co-presented a paper titled ‘Speculating Governance: The New Normal?’ at the India Land and Development Conference (ILDC 2019): Partnership for enhanced Inclusion and Impact 12-14th March 2019, New Delhi.
2018- Presented a paper titled ‘Urban Vulnerability-Land based conflicts’ at the 2nd International conference India Land and Development (ILDC 2018), New Delhi. 19-21 February 2018
2016- Presented a research work titled ‘India Realty impediments: the land, policy and plan baste (a case of Okhla Bird Sanctuary) at the ‘21st AsRES (The Asian Real Estate Society) Annual Conference 2016, Bangalore, India. 13-15th July 2016.
2014- Co-presented the research work for the project Chance 2 Sustain: ‘When periphery Becomes the Core - Configuring planning Strategies and complexities of Capital City Delhi’ at the 14th EADI General conference 23-26th June 2014, Bonn
2013- Presented a paper on ‘urban governance and institutional conflicts corridors going beyond cities and city regions’ at the Corridors, City Regions and Cities in Urban and Regional Development an International Seminar by School of Planning and Architecture – Vijayawada, on 22nd November 2013
Chair / Talks/ Moderation/ Organiser
2024- Invited talk on Innovation in Rural Spatial Planning at the Azim Prem Ji University, Bhopal, organised by TRI and Azim Prem JI on the National Panchayati Raj Day 2024.
2024- Moderated the session at the Cross-Learning Interactive National Workshop on GPSDP, MoPR
2022- Jointly organised on behalf of SPA Bhopal, the International Multi-stakeholder conference on ‘Transforming peri-urban futures’ on 18th and 19th of January 2022, with the institutions University of Cologne, TU Delft and SaciWATERs.
2022- Discussant for the session on ‘Governance and Infrastructure’ at the virtual conference on ‘Transforming Peri-urban Futures’ 18th & 19th January2022, organised by the SPA, Bhopal, TUDelft, SACIWaters and University of Cologne.
2021- Moderated the session ‘T6 S5: 5 years of RERA: Capacity Building & Education’ at the India Land Development Conference, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdzeKSMCbkg
2021- Jointly organised and was the rapporteur, on behalf of SPA Bhopal, the international workshop with GIZ, India on ‘Urban Missions in India and linkages to UN-SDGs’ at Hilton Hotel Bengaluru on 11th and 12th November 2021
2021- Organised and moderated the panel discussion in the International ‘India Land Development Conference ILDC 2021’ on 23rd November 2021 on the topic ‘5 years of RERA: Capacity building and Education’.
2020- Presented a webinar in the Webinar Series by City Speaks on the topic ‘Is Land Pooling the answer to contested Land acquisition?’ on 26th June 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jytGxyPveXA
2018- Organised and presented at the RICS SBE Dialogue series on ‘Delhi Land Pooling - Opportunities and Challenges’ on 9th August 2018 at IIC, Delhi on behalf of the Real Estate & Urban Infrastructure department of the RICS SBE
2018- Organised and presented at the RICS SBE Dialogue series on the ‘Future of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in India. Emerging Issues and Possible Solutions’, on 26th April 2018 at IIC, Delhi on behalf of the Real Estate & Urban Infrastructure department of the RICS School of Built Environment
2012- Presentation at the Indo- German Mela, on Exploring use of technology in inducing Participatory urban planning in the development of public city spaces – The case of Connaught Place. 27th October 2012, New Delhi.
2012- Paper presentation on Using Census Data to Build Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) For Better Urban Governance, at the National Data Dissemination Workshop, organized by the Registrar General, Census of India, 28th December 2012
Blog posts
The Urban Local Governments in fighting COVID-19: India; available @ https://www.pria.org/featuredstory-guest-blog---the-urban-local-governments-in-fighting-covid-19-india-44-254
Project Accomplishments
2022- Presently (March 2022 onwards) working on the preparation of the ‘Regional Plan for the Coimbatore Region - 2042’ for the Coimbatore, erode and Tiruppur Districts, Tamil Nadu DTCP.
2022- Presently (March 2022 onwards) working on the preparation of the ‘Regional Plan for The Nilgiris – 2042’ for the Tamil Nadu DTCP.
2022- Assisting member Secretary (National Centre for Spatial Plan for Rural Development, SPA Bhopal), in the proceedings of MoPR’s Expert Committee for Formulation of Model Rural Transformation Act, 2022’
2023- Presently working on the preparation of the ‘Gram Panchayat Spatial Development Plan GPSDP- Bilkisganj, Madhya Pradesh’ for the MoPR.
Research Accomplishments
2021- Team Member - Team representing SPA Bhopal as a member of the committee for the revision of Rural Area Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (RADPFI) Guidelines, 2021 (Revised) for the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), GOI.
2021 – Indian SDG Monitoring Through Earth Observation (Kochi Municipal Corporation, Kerala) Supported by GIZ, (Team Member).
2014- Worked in the capacity of an Urban & Regional Planner (Assistant Professor SPA Vijayawada) for the ADB research project on ‘East coast economic corridor’ in 2013-2014
2013- Worked in the capacity of an Urban & Regional Planner (Assistant Professor SPA Vijayawada) for the Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) research project on ‘Aspiring Seemandhra: City Regions and Sub-regional Disparities’ in 2013-2014
2012- Connaught Place 2020, a collaboration of the South Asia Institute, SPA Delhi and Space bonding (GIZ- Indo German Mela) (Team member)
2012- European Union research project on urban governance and Spatial Knowledge management ‘Chance2Sustain’- India team (Client EU) (Team member)
2015 to 2020- Management Development Programs (MDPs) and Emerging Leaders Program (ELPs) industry training sessions:
Development Control Regulations and Building bye-laws
Property records/ information systems and its interpretations
Development Appraisals- land markets, access and right over land
Building byelaws and Basics of Urban planning and land assembly models
Real Estate Land Laws
Land Due Diligence
2020 onwards- Training Resource person for RICS South Asia Training, conducting training for NAR, NAREDCO, NBCC, Edelweiss, CBRE, and EMBASSY Group, conducting sessions on:
Urban Planning Regulatory Framework and Project Approval Process
Fundamentals of Urban Planning
Urbanisation and Real estate
Land Due Diligence
Land records Management
Commercial Real estate
Property development
LandAc (The Netherlands Land Academy) recognition of poster presentation at the certificate course on ‘Land Governance and Development’ at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands
