Our Team
PK DAS
Founder, Question of Cities
An urban planner, architect and activist with a stupendous body of work and a list of national and international awards behind him, PK Das has sought to establish a close relationship between his discipline, urban ecology and people through a participatory planning process. His wide spectrum of work includes organising slum dwellers for better living, evolving affordable housing models, engaging in policy framework for mass housing, reclaiming public space in Mumbai by developing the waterfronts, re-envisioning the city and open spaces of Mumbai, urban renewal and conservation projects along with an architectural practice involving urban planning, urban design, architecture and interior design assignments across the country. He has demonstrated change by implementing more than 25 public interest projects through voluntary and collaborative endeavours involving local people and agencies. He hopes to integrate architecture and democracy for social change.
SMRUTI KOPPIKAR
Founder Editor, Question of Cities
Mumbai-based journalist, chronicler and media educator, Smruti has more than 30 years of reporting, writing and editing experience across national and international publications on a range of subjects from the post-Babri Masjid communal riots to election campaigns, development and gender issues, cities and the media which fetched her a number of awards. She focussed on urban affairs writing in the last decade, documenting cities in transformation with Mumbai as her focus through her column MumbaiNama/MumbaiNaama and deep reporting projects. She is a well-regarded columnist and television panellist on urban issues and politics, and has authored chapters on cities in books and journals. She was a member of the core group which worked to include gender in Mumbai’s Development Plan 2034. She teaches journalism and media theory to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and most recently conducted a series of lectures on cities and pandemics.
SHOBHA SURIN
Associate Editor, Question of Cities
Shobha has spent more than two decades in newsrooms of India’s well-known newspapers. She led teams on news desks and coordinated city news, mainly in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with a focus on bringing the less-told stories about urban peripheral areas into the mainstream media. When not poring over copy, she loves exploring new places and trekking. She nurtures a keen interest in the interface of urban issues and lives of people.
JASHVITHA DHAGEY
Research and Social Media Associate, Question of Cities
Jashvitha developed a deep interest in the way cities function, watching Mumbai at work. With a degree in Mass Media, she holds a post-graduate diploma in Social Communications Media from Sophia Polytechnic, and is a life-long learner of everything urban. She loves to watch and chronicle the multiple interactions between people, between people and power, and society and media.
SHIVANI DAVE
Architect – Writer – Illustrator, Question of Cities
Shivani Dave is an architect, writer and illustrator interested in exploring the intersection of architecture and social sciences. Through her academic experience at the School of Environment and Architecture, Mumbai, where she received her Bachelor’s in Architecture, she discovered that her interests lie in applying the fundamentals of architectural research and writing within urban contexts to develop phenomenological ideas about life in cities. After a postgraduate diploma from the London School of Journalism, she is now aspiring to create engaging, significant pieces of media. At Question of Cities, Shivani researches, writes and visualises stories.
PK DAS
Founder, Question of Cities
An urban planner, architect and activist with a stupendous body of work and a list of national and international awards behind him, PK Das has sought to establish a close relationship between his discipline, urban ecology and people through a participatory planning process. His wide spectrum of work includes organising slum dwellers for better living, evolving affordable housing models, engaging in policy framework for mass housing, reclaiming public space in Mumbai by developing the waterfronts, re-envisioning the city and open spaces of Mumbai, urban renewal and conservation projects along with an architectural practice involving urban planning, urban design, architecture and interior design assignments across the country. He has demonstrated change by implementing more than 25 public interest projects through voluntary and collaborative endeavours involving local people and agencies. He hopes to integrate architecture and democracy for social change.
SMRUTI KOPPIKAR
Founder Editor,
Question of Cities
Mumbai-based journalist, chronicler and media educator, Smruti has more than 30 years of reporting, writing and editing experience across national and international publications on a range of subjects from the post-Babri Masjid communal riots to election campaigns, development and gender issues, cities and the media which fetched her a number of awards. She focussed on urban affairs writing in the last decade, documenting cities in transformation with Mumbai as her focus through her column MumbaiNama/MumbaiNaama and deep reporting projects. She is a well-regarded columnist and television panellist on urban issues and politics, and has authored chapters on cities in books and journals. She was a member of the core group which worked to include gender in Mumbai’s Development Plan 2034. She teaches journalism and media theory to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and most recently conducted a series of lectures on cities and pandemics.
SHOBHA SURIN
Associate Editor,
Question of Cities
Shobha has spent more than two decades in newsrooms of India’s well-known newspapers. She led teams on news desks and coordinated city news, mainly in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with a focus on bringing the less-told stories about urban peripheral areas into the mainstream media. When not poring over copy, she loves exploring new places and trekking. She nurtures a keen interest in the interface of urban issues and lives of people.
JASHVITHA DHAGEY
Research and Social Media Associate, Question of Cities
Jashvitha developed a deep interest in the way cities function watching Mumbai at work. With a degree in Mass Media, she holds a post-graduate diploma in Social Communications Media at Sophia, and is a life-long learner of everything urban. She loves to watch and chronicle the multiple interactions between people, between people and power, and society and media.
SHIVANI DAVE
Architect – Writer – Illustrator, Question of Cities
Shivani Dave is an architect, writer and illustrator interested in exploring the intersection of architecture and social sciences. Through her academic experience at the School of Environment and Architecture, Mumbai, where she received her Bachelor’s in Architecture, she discovered that her interests lie in applying the fundamentals of architectural research and writing within urban contexts to develop phenomenological ideas about life in cities. After a postgraduate diploma from the London School of Journalism, she is now aspiring to create engaging, significant pieces of media. At Question of Cities, Shivani researches, writes and visualises stories.