Debapriya Chakrabarti is a Lecturer in Architecture associated with the PRAXXIS, a feminist Atelier. Debapriya currently teaches M Arch Year 2 in PRAXXIS atelier and a Research Methods Workshop module for M Arch Year 1. She has been a Tutor for the MAAU course.

PRAXXIS is an explicitly feminist teaching atelier running vertically across BA3 and M Arch courses at MSA aiming to stimulate a positive intersectional feminist debate within the school and beyond.

Debapriya was previously a ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in Architecture, The University of Manchester. Her research focused on the role of infrastructure in (trans)forming practices of idol-making in Kumartuli, an inner-city neighbourhood of Kolkata (India). Her research expertise is in informal practices, livelihoods, the human-infrastructure interface and sustainable urban transitions, focusing on marginalised communities in the Global South.

Debapriya has completed a PhD in Architecture at The University of Manchester investigating transformation of idol-crafting practices in Kolkata. She completed her master’s degree in City Planning at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2015 with a Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India scholarship. Debapriya trained as an architect and completed her Bachelor in Architecture from Biju Patnaik University of Technology, India in 2012. She worked as an architect in a practice in Kolkata, India before pursuing a Master’s degree in City Planning.

Previous Employment

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Manchester

Research Associate at The University of Manchester

Research

Books

Chakrabarti, D., 2024. 'Heritage, Crafting Communities and Urban Transformation', Routledge.

CHAKRABARTI, D., 2023. 'Heritage, Crafting Communities and Urban Transformation Durga Puja Festival, Kolkata', Routledge.

Book Chapters

Walley, B., Crowther, A., Serrano, P.Y., Nekkache, A., Cepeda, R., Chakrabarti, D., Boadu, E., 2021. 'The Envirolution Revolution: Raising Awareness of Climate Change Creatively Through Free and Accessible Community Engagement Festivals'. In Addressing the Climate Crisis: Local Action in Theory and Practice, pp. 39-48.

Journal Articles

Brown, A., Chakrabarti, B., Mackie, P., Fuller, C., Bhattacharya, R., Bagchi, S., Chakrabarti, D., 2024. 'Contested spaces of exchange: informal cross-border trade on the India-Bangladesh border', Forum for Development Studies, 51 (1), pp. 121-143.

Chakrabarti, D., 2023. 'Urban theory of/from the Global South: a systematic review of issues, challenges, and pathways of decolonization', Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 5, pp. 1163534-1163534.

Chakrabarti, D., 2022. 'Book review: Mundane Methods: Innovative Ways to Research the Everyday, Helen Holmes, Sarah Marie Hall (Eds.), Manchester University Press, Manchester (2020), v and 287 pp., £24.99 paperback, ISBN: 978-1-5261-3971-9', Emotion, Space and Society, 44.

Chakrabarti, D., 2019. 'Fuzzy Existences and In-betweenness: Place and Practices of the Idol-making Industry of Kolkata1', Edited by Italo Pardo, Giuliana B. Prato and James Rosbrook-Thompson.

Conference Papers

Chakrabarti, D., Kadyrova, A., Uyarra, E., Flanagan, K., Barrioluengo, M.S., 2023. 'Tracing the role of universities in urban regeneration, experimentation, innovation, and development-a systematic review', in Eu-SPRI Annual Conference.

Chakrabarti, D., Kadyrova, A., Uyarra, E., Flanagan, K., Sanchez Barrioluengo, M., 2022. 'Changing vocabularies in university-led spaces of innovation - a systematic review', 6th International Conference on Public Policy, Toronto, 27/6/2022 - 29/6/2022.