Sarbeswar Praharaj

Assistant Research Professor and Associate Director for Data and Visualization

Knowledge Exchange for Resilience

s.praharaj@asu.edu

Tempe Campus

Bio

Sarbeswar Praharaj (Ph.D.) is the Associate Director (Data & Visualization) and Assistant Research Professor at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU). He is a Senior Global Futures Scientist at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. He works closely with the PLUS Alliance Fellows across ASU, Kings College London, and UNSW Sydney, tackling global urbanization challenges with an aim to build smart, healthy, and accessible cities. Dr. Praharaj leads research on smart cities, critical urban studies, data visualization and dashboards, and resilience. He engages in research-led interactive teaching and learning pedagogies in urban planning and geographical science.

Most recognized among his works in the United States is the Economic Resilience Dashboard, which visualizes near-real-time data from different authorities to help understand how cities and counties in Arizona are tackling the economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. He led the development of a transformative approach to poverty measures through the Household Expenditure and Income Gap Highlighter Tool (HEIGHT). The research reveals the increasing gap between household income and living costs and identifies the neighborhoods and groups (race/ethnicity and women-headed households) most impacted by poverty for policy development. Dr. Praharaj designed the COVID-19 Mobility Analytics Platform, which tracks human mobility during the pandemic with direct data APIs from Apple, Google, and Descartes Labs. He built the Temperature Change Tracking Tool for cities in Maricopa County, visualizing 100 years of temperature data providing deep and historical insight on the urban heat phenomenon facing the desert cities.

Before joining ASU, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Manager of the City Analytics Lab at the City Futures Research Center, UNSW Sydney, Australia. While at UNSW, he was involved in developing Australia’s ground-breaking data-driven property valuation tool - RAISE and authored the Strathfield Smart City Roadmap for the Sydney Council. Dr. Praharaj established and coordinated the Australia-India Smart Cities Knowledge Exchange Network and was designated as a Global Tech Fellow for spearheading research collaboration with the member institutions of the Global Alliance of Technological Universities. He also facilitated Pune Smart City Living Lab’s setup through a tr-university partnership between ASU, Kings College London, and UNSW Sydney as part of the PLUS Alliance network. Sarbeswar has received competitive grant funding from the Australia-India Council and Australia-Kora Foundation and was awarded the UNSW International Postgraduate Research Scholarship for his Ph.D.

Education

2015 - 2019 PhD in Urban Planning and Smart Cities, UNSW Sydney

2009 - 2011 Master of Urban Planning (Housing), CEPT University

2006 - 2008 Master of Science in Geography, University of Calcutta

2003 - 2006 Bachelor of Science in Geography, University of Calcutta

Publications

Research Website URL:

https://public.tableau.com/profile/sarbeswar.praharaj#!/

Google Scholar URL:

Google Scholar Profile

Journal Papers

Praharaj, S., & Han, H. 2021. Human mobility impacts on the surging incidence of COVID‐19 in India. Geographical Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12502
Leao, S.Z., van den Nouwelant, R., Shi, V., Han, H., Praharaj, S. and Pettit, C.J., 2021. A rapid analytics tool to map the effect of rezoning on property values. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 86, p.101572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2020.101572
Praharaj, S. (2021). Area-Based Urban Renewal Approach for Smart Cities Development in India: Challenges of Inclusion and Sustainability. Urban Planning, 6(4), 202-215. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v6i4.4484
Solís, P., Dasarathy, G., Turaga, P., Drake, A., Vora, K. J., Sajja, A., ... & Lattus, R. 2021. Understanding the Spatial Patchwork of Predictive Modeling of First Wave Pandemic Decisions by US Governors. Geographical Review, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2021.1947139
Alic, D., Drummond, A., Praharaj, S., & Peacock, J. 2021. Leveraging the capabilities of sessional teachers in design education. International Journal of Design Education, 15(1), 131-143. 10.18848/2325-128X/CGP/V15I01/131-143
Praharaj, S., King, D., Pettit, C., and Wentz, E., 2020. Using Aggregated Mobility Data to Measure the Effect of COVID-19 Policies on Mobility Changes in Sydney, London, Phoenix, and Pune. Transport Findings, October. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.17590
Wang, C., Li, Z., Clay Mathews, M., Praharaj, S., Karna, B. and Solís, P., 2020. The spatial association of social vulnerability with COVID-19 prevalence in the contiguous United States. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, pp.1-8. doi: 10.1080/09603123.2020.1847258
Praharaj, S., Vaidya, H. (2020). The Urban Dimension of COVID-19 in India: COVID Outbreak and Lessons for Future Cities. Smartnet. National Institute of Urban Affairs. Pages 1-9. https://smartnet.niua.org/content/84503a60-1f2d-4d9c-9207-00b6523a8999
Praharaj, S., Han, H. (2019). Cutting through the clutter of smart city definitions: A reading into the smart city perceptions in India. City Culture and Society. Volume 18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2019.05.005
Praharaj, S. and Han, H. (2019). Building a typology of the 100 smart cities in India. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. Volume 8, No. 5, Pages 400-414. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-04-2019-0056
Praharaj, S., Han, H., Hawken, S. (2018). Urban innovation through policy integration: Critical perspectives from 100 Smart Cities Mission in India. City Culture and Society, Volume 12, Pages 35-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2017.06.004
Praharaj, S., Han, H., Hawken, S. (2018). Towards the Right Model of Smart City Governance in India. Int. J. Sus. Dev. Plann, WIT Press, UK. Volume 13, No 2, Pages 171-186. 10.2495/SDP-V13-N2-171-186
Praharaj, S., Han, H. and Hawken, S. (2017). Innovative civic engagement and digital urban infrastructure: Lessons from 100 Smart Cities Mission in India. Procedia Engineering, Volume 180, Pages 1423-1432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.04.305
Hawken, S. and Praharaj, S. (2016). Leaders in Thought: Driving Urban Innovation. Australia and New Zealand Property Journal, vol. March Vol 5, Pages 254 – 255. https://www.api.org.au/magazines/australia-and-new-zealand-property-journal/australia-and-new-zealand-property-journal-marc
Acharya, S., Bandyopadhyay, S. and Praharaj, S. (2012). Carbon Intensive Urbanization, Climate Variability and Urban Vulnerabilities in Hill Areas: A Case of Gangtok Urban Region, Sikkim, Journal of International Development and Co-operation, Volume 18, Issue 4, Pages 93-112. DOI: 10.15027/33191

Book Chapters

Praharaj, S. (2020). Development Challenges of the Big Data Command and Control Centres for Smart Cities in India. In: Biloria N. (eds) Data-driven Multivalence in the Built Environment (pp. 75-90). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12180-8_4
Praharaj, S., Bandyopadhyay, S. (2020). Understanding the Open Data Challenge for Building Smart Cities in India. In: Hawken S., Han H., Pettit C. (eds) Open Cities Open Data: collaborative cities in the information era (pp 359-382). Palgrave Macmillan - Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_16
Praharaj, S., Han, H., Hawken, S. (2018). Evolving a Locally Appropriate Indicator System for Benchmarking Sustainable Smart Cities in India. In: Leal Filho W., Rogers J., Iyer-Raniga U. (eds) Sustainable Development Research in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 253-274). World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73293-0_15
Praharaj, S. (2014). Conservation and urban renewal as a base for sustainable development in historic cities: A case of Varanasi. In: Mishra, C.G. (eds) Sustainable Constructivism: Traditional vis-à-vis Modern Architecture (pp. 167-174). Excellent Publishing House, New Delhi. https://www.krishisanskriti.org/vol_image/09Sep201509090323.pdf
Praharaj, S. (under review 2020). Re-connecting Communities with Public Spaces: A Proposal for Rejuvenation of Sacred kunds in the Historic city of Varanasi, India, In: Dahiya B., Singh, R. (eds) Contemporary Cultural Geographies: Contexts, Forms and Practices. Springer, Cham.

Conference Papers

Praharaj, S. (2018). City Anatomy – A planning decision-support dashboard for Smart Cities in India. In: Proceedings | 12th World Congress of the RSAI 2018 (pp. 298-307). Goa, India: Regional Science Association International.
Harsimran, K., Rita, A., Praharaj, S. (2015). Revitalization of the Historic Urban Quarters and Upgrading Tourism Economy in the Walled City of Diu, India. In: Proceedings of the National Conference on Rediscovering Cities (pp. 1-9). Ambala, India: Indian Institute of Architects.
Praharaj, S. (2014). Philosophies of Historic Spaces, its Traits, Congestion and Contestation: A Case of World Heritage Sites in Kathmandu. In: Conference Proceedings: Planning Africa 2014 - Making Great Places (pp. 545-557). Durban, South Africa: South African Planning Institute.
Praharaj, S. (2014). Rejuvenation of water bodies and restoring active community spaces in the cultural capital of India: Varanasi, India. In: Bagha, S & Singla, A. (eds) Proceedings of the Neo-International Conference on Habitable Environments (pp. 459-470), Punjab, India: Indian Institute of Architects.
Praharaj, S. and Singh, S. (2013). Philosophies of community spaces, its traits, congestion and contestation: A case of Kathmandu city. In: International Symposium on Meanings and Aesthetics in Asian Cultural Landscape. Seoul, South Korea: Asian Cultural Landscape Association

Technical Reports

Praharaj, S. & Pettit, C. (2019). Report: Smart Strathfield Roadmap. City Futures Research Centre. UNSW Sydney.
Shi, Y., Praharaj, S., Pettit, C. (2019). Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer (RAISE): Tutorials and Case-Uses. City Futures Research Centre. UNSW Sydney.
Praharaj, S. and Hawken, S. (2018). White Paper - A Knowledge Exchange Network for Australian and Indian Smart Cities. Smart Cities Research Cluster UNSW Sydney.
Saswat, B., Praharaj, S., Shah, j., Ghosh, D., Ray, S., Singh, P. and Godha, K. (2013). Knowledge Needs Assessment Study: Synthesis Report. National Institute of Urban Affairs. New Delhi. NIUA Research Study Series Number 124. http://pearl.niua.org/knowledge-needs-assessment

Expertise Areas

Urban Studies

Spatial Analytics and Smart Cities

Data Visualization

Complex Systems

Resilience

International Education and Development