DeSH Lab
DeSH Lab
Design Studies/History Lab
Design Studies/History Lab
Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Embedded Files
Research Scholar - Himani Kanojia
Research Scholar - Himani Kanojia
Himani Kanojia
Himani Kanojia
Research Scholar, DeSH Lab
Inclusive Urban and Climate Planning
Himani Kanojia is an urban designer and doctoral researcher at IIT Delhi, rethinking urban futures through children’s agency and participatory design.
Himani Kanojia has a Master's in Urban Design from School of planning and Architecture Bhopal ( M.Arch, 2012–14) and a Bachelor's in Architecture from Aayojan School of Architecture, Jaipur (B.Arch, 2007–12).
With over a decade of experience across teaching, research, and professional practice, Himani has worked on projects spanning public space design, urban planning, and community-led development, engaging participatory and socio-spatial approaches across academic and applied contexts.
Her doctoral research investigates how children’s lived experiences and visual narratives can be brought into dialogue with urban systems and environmental data to inform climate-responsive planning. Situated within the majority world context, her work explores methodological frameworks that integrate participatory design, drawing-based co-creation, and communication design to enable children’s agency in shaping urban futures. It further examines how such approaches can contribute to more inclusive, context-aware, and responsive design, planning, and policy practices for sustainable cities.
Research Area
Research Area
Participatory Design, Children’s Agency, Climate and Urban Planning Advocacy, Urban Systems, Inclusive Urban Futures in Majority World Contexts
Conference Publications
Conference Publications
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2026). Meaning before making: Embedding critical worldviews through ethical pedagogy in early industrial design education. Paper presented at the Emerge Conference, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2025, December). Triadic co creation model: Redefining child participation in urban planning in the majority world. IASDR 2025 Conference, Taipei, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1191
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2025, October). Shaping sustainable design thinking: Exploring the role of school environmental studies in youth designers’ climate conscious practices in India. ICDHS14 Conference 2025, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2025, January). Enabling climate change through communication design in sustainability discourse at school education in India. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Research into Design (ICoRD). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7316-2_31
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2025, January). Integrating environment, science, and communication design in climate change education in school education in India. Paper presented at the SiDE Symposium, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2024, December). Visualising future sustainable cities for India: Adapting participatory design frameworks for children in the majority world. The 16th Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/399827788
Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2024). Empowering children’s agency in urban planning: Participatory design frameworks for the majority world. Poster presented at the Participatory Design Conference, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Trehan, S., Kanojia, H., & Tewari, S. (2024). Designing for extreme contexts: Facilitating participatory design and evolving empathy in climate change advocacy. Poster presented at the Participatory Design Conference, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
29 September 2026, Guwahati
Himani Kanojia presented "Drawing Climate-Responsive Neighbourhoods: Children's Spatial Imaginaries from Informal Settlements in India" which is a special section from her ongoing doctoral work at DeSH Lab at the International Conference on Design and Innovation Studies (INDIS 2026), hosted by IIT Guwahati. The paper was co-authored with Saurabh Tewari.
29 July 2026, New Delhi
Himani Kanojia participated as a panelist at the Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Cities National Convening, organised by WRI India, for a discussion on “Beyond the Project: Sustaining and Mainstreaming Adolescent Participation in Cities.” The discussion explored how adolescent participation can move beyond consultation and become embedded within everyday systems of urban planning, governance, policy, and decision-making. The conversation highlighted the importance of recognising young people not only as beneficiaries of urban development but also as knowledge holders and legitimate stakeholders whose lived experiences and ideas can inform the making of cities.
7 July 2026, Delft
Radhika Thakur, Himani Kanojia and Saurabh Tewari presented "Mapping and Experiencing Urban Heat at Bhalswa Landfill" at the Lived Heat Symposium, hosted by TU Delft, NL.3 July 2026, Aveiro
Himani Kanojia presented "From Exclusion to Imagination: Place-based Participatory Design with Marginalised Children for Just and Inclusive Urban Futures in the Majority World" at the UD26 Belonging Conference hosted by the University of Aveiro, Portugal. This paper was co-authored with PhD supervisor Saurabh Tewari.13 March 2026, Mumbai
Himani Kanojia presented her paper, “Meaning Before Making: Embedding Critical Worldviews through Ethical Pedagogy in Early-stage Design Education,” at Emerge 2026 at the IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay. The EMERGE Conference was hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay under the track Pedagogical Interventions and the Future of Product Design Education. The paper reflects on integrating ethical reflection and critical worldviews into early-stage design learning.
3 December 2025
Research Scholar Himani Kanojia present research paper, 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼-𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹: 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, co-authored with Prof Saurabh Tewari, at the 𝗜𝗔𝗦𝗗𝗥 (𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵) 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, organised by the 𝗧𝗮𝗶𝘄𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 (TDRI) and the 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 (CID), held from 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟬𝟮–𝟬𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, in 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘪, 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘸𝘢𝘯.9 January 2025
Himani Kanojia presented “𝗘𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮,” co-authored with Prof. Saurabh Tewari, was presented at the prestigious International Conference on Research into Design hosted by the Department of Design, IIT Hyderabad.14 December 2024
Himani's paper was nominated for 🏆𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝—an acknowledgement of the growing importance of including children’s perspectives in urban planning and sustainability discussions. This research is part of my ongoing PhD work, which focuses on empowering children through participatory frameworks to reimagine sustainable and inclusive urban environments13 December 2024
Himani presented, "𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚: 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝," co-authored with 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. Saurabh Tewari, at the 16𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 (𝐈𝐅𝐨𝐔): 𝐔𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. The conference, held from 12–14 December 2024, was a truly global event, hosted across six cities by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Delft University of Technology, 𝐄𝐏𝐅𝐋 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞, 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐢, 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐬 𝐀𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝.28 Aug 2024
Himani Kanojia received the Best Paper Award for her paper "Children’s Urban Visions: Pedagogical Approaches to Sustainable Urban Planning". The paper is based on "My City, My Environment: Drawing What I See," with 72 fifth-grade students in Delhi. Their drawings revealed their understanding of urban planning challenges and the impact of inadequate policies on sustainability and inclusivity.28 Aug 2024
Research Scholar Himani Kanojia presented paper "Children’s Urban Visions: Pedagogical Approaches to Sustainable Urban Planning" coauthored with Prof Saurabh Tewari at the 8th International Conference on Advanced Production and Industrial Engineering (ICAPIE - 2024).10 Aug 2024
Research Scholar Himani Kanojia presented her poster at IIT Bombay's PDC Place India 2024 coauthored with Saurabh TewariPage updated
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