CASA Graduate: The first PhD in GeoDesign

Left to right: Carl Steinitz (mentor), Henk Scholten (external examiner), Hrishi Ballal (the successful graduate), Brian Orland (external examiner via Skype), Mike Batty (supervisor). James Cheshire was also supervisor but not available for the photo.

Hrishi finished his PhD in a record 2 years 4 months. It helps if you know what you want to do and also hook up with a mentor like Carl Steinitz, our Honorary Professor, and Emeritus Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design who coined the phrase and more or less invented GeoDesign as well as GIS many years before. Hrishi wrote a great thesis on GeoDesign and in particular focused on the process of design, and the entire participatory context of design which is support using his software. This is heavy client-side software, not cloud-based but software that informs users and designers of what their colleagues are doing and how they are doing it and in the process, illustrating how to do design better. It is cutting edge and Carl and Hrishi are dedicated to teaching others how to use while and the same time improving it dramatically through workshops. Watch this space. We will report progress in this area quite regularly.