Bipin Kumar, PhD

About

I am an urban geographer working at the intersection of social geography and development studies, with a focus on indigenous urbanism, socio-spatial inequalities and land relations in the resource regions of eastern India. My research engages with debates in southern urbanism, marginality and urban political economy, extending these discussions by positioning indigeneity as a critical yet under-theorised dimension of urbanisation. I employ mixed-methods research, combining ethnographic fieldwork, census data, and policy analysis. My work develops indigenous urbanism as a conceptual lens within comparative and relational urban theory, with particular attention to territoriality, urban transformation and development aspirations in a Global South perspective.

At the Nalanda University Centre, I led the design and implementation of a skill-focused 4-year B.A. (Hons) programme in Sustainable Development Studies that emphasises an integrated study of society, economy and environment.

I am committed to interdisciplinary scholarship that bridges academic inquiry and development practice through critical pedagogy, policy engagement, and reflective field research aimed at addressing contemporary development challenges.

Employment

• TCEDS Nalanda University Centre Assistant Professor
  2023 - Present

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (7)

• Indigenous Urbanisation and Urban Indigeneity: Insights of embedded identity and contouring spatiality in Jharkhand, India
  Habitat International 2024 DOI: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103185
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• Tribes at the Margin of Tribal Space: Urban Socio-Spatial Exclusion
  Urbanisation 2021 DOI: 10.1177/24557471211059986
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• Non-Inclusive Tribal Workforce Participation in Urban Spaces: A Case Study of Jharkhand
  National Geographical Journal of India 2020 DOI: 10.48008/ngji.1742
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• Tribals in the Urban Spaces of Jharkhand: An analysis of Livelihood diversification through occupational participation
  Globalisation of Indian Tribes Past, Present and Future Dynamics 2019
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• Tribes at the margin of Tribal Space: An inquiry into urban spatial exclusion
  Urban Futures: Critical Transformations in Asian Cities at 15th International Asian Urbanization Conference (AUC), Vietnam-German University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2019
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• Tribal Livelihood in the Urban Spaces of Jharkhand: An Analysis through Occupational Participation
  40th Indian Geography Congress (NAGI) 2018
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• Tribals in the Urban Spaces of Jharkhand: An Analysis of Livelihood Diversification through Occupational Participation
  Globalisation of Indian Tribes: Past, Present and Future Dynamics 2018
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