Who We Are
An interdisciplinary institution for urban practice, research and education.
OVERVIEW
The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) is a national knowledge institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of India’s cities, towns, and villages.
We examine questions and develop responses across the rural–urban continuum, engaging with the diversity of settlements, systems, and scales that define India’s development landscape, including transitions in infrastructure, governance, economy, and the environment.
IIHS takes urbanisation as the core of a new interdisciplinary knowledge paradigm in its work on the teaching–research–practice–capacity development continuum.
Our Approach
IIHS is organised around key interconnected transformation themes, placing equal emphasis on grounded theory building and applied research to ensure the translation of knowledge into practice, and vice versa. Our collaborators include leading global and Indian universities, governments, organisations, and civil society partners.
IIHS is built on the recognition that research and practice in the 21st century are increasingly moving beyond disciplinary silos towards more interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral approaches to analysis and problem-solving. This philosophy is built into IIHS’ organisational framework.
IIHS’ Programmes, Schools, Labs, and Centres are designed to intersect and strengthen each other within an integrated, interdisciplinary institutional ecosystem.
IIHS University
A unique, distinct and interdisciplinary University
In exercise of powers conferred under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, on the advice of UGC, declared IIHS as an Institution Deemed to be University under the Distinct Category specified in the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023.
The IIHS (Institution Deemed to be) University, launched in 2025, offers five interdisciplinary Master’s Programmes and a Doctoral Programme centred around urban research and practice.
The University is a heterodox 21st-century interdisciplinary institution of global stature. It addresses a strategic gap in India’s higher education system by focusing on sustainable urbanisation, including building on emerging interdisciplinary fields: urban science, sustainability science, and climate science; as well as critical connections with other areas such as governance, human development, and systems and infrastructure.
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