Keynote Addresses (Selected)

  • Sri Lanka’s Spatial System: Colonialism, Education, and Cities, 2nd Undergraduate Recherche Symposium, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 24, 2020

  • Globalization and Asian Urbanization, Theme: City Networks, Marmara Urban Forum (MARUF), Istanbul, Turkey, October 1-3, 2019

  • Guiding Asian Urban Transformation: From Development Theory to Planning Education, Annual Meeting of Urban and Rural Planning Education in China, Hunan University, Changsha, China, September 7, 2019

  • Making Education Useful: Learning from Communities by Doing Collaborative Work, 15th International Conference on Developing Real-Life Learning Experiences, King Mongkut’s Institute of technology at Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand, June 16, 2017

  • Innovating Prosperity from Within: A Fresh Start for Chumphon’s Own Brand of Sustainable Development, 2nd iAMBEST Conference, Chumphon, Thailand, May 31-June 1, 2017

  • People’s Spaces: From Coping with Impositions to Creating Their Own Spaces, SAHANZ Inaugural Conference, University of Melbourne, Australia, July 4-6, 2016

  • Squandered Opportunities and Potential Paths: Mainstream Development in Sri Lanka, 14th Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) Symposium on Development and Infrastructure, Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 23-24, 2015

  • Transforming Asian Cites: Urban and Planning Practices, Plenary, XV International Planning History Society (IPHS) Conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 15-18, 2012

  • Approaching Asian Planning: Viewing the Production of Space from the Spaces of Production, Ninth International Congress of Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA), Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 27-28, 2007

  • Engaging the Asian City, Asia Link Workshop on City Design, CEPT, Ahmedabad, January 12-15,2005

  • Explaining Colombo: The Contested History of a Colonial City, Symposium on Urban Renaissance through City Architecture, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA), February 22, 2002

See Publications list at Acedemia.edu

Conference papers (Selected)

  • Beyond the Intellectual Impasse: Understanding the South Asian City, South Asian Institute Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, April 24-5, 2014

  • Social Justice and the Subaltern: A People’s Struggle in Bhubaneswar, Social Justice and the City Conference, Hong Kong, Dec 4-6, 2013

  • Immersive Learning: Lessons from the Field, Asian Planning Schools Association Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, November 1-3, 2013

  • Asian Modernity: From Lived Spaces in Chharanagar, Writing the Global City: A Tribute to Anthony D. King, Binghamton, NY, October 4-5, 2013

  • Connecting Aid to People: Coordinating the Top and the Bottom of External Aid Programs, Lessons from Indonesia’s Experiences in Disaster Reconstruction and Preparedness, Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias, Jakarta, Indonesia, November 12, 2012

  • People’s Spaces: Familiarizing Colonial Colombo, South Asia Conference, Madison, WI, October 12-14, 2012

  • Transforming Dharavi: The Power of Place, 4th International Conference on Locality as Alternative Values: Resistance, Hybridism, Autonomy, Busan, Korea, December 14, 2012

  • Competing Views: Legibility, Resistance and the Redevelopment of Dharavi, World Planning Schools Congress, Perth, Australia, July 4-7, 2011

  • Competing Views, Legibility, and Resistance: The Redevelopment of Dharavi, Global Urban Frontiers: Asian Cities in Theory, Practice and Imagination, National University of Singapore, Sep 8-9, 2010

  • Re-Worlding Students: Aiding the Encounter with Community, 2021 Administrators’ Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Virtual, March 11-12 , 2021

  • People’s Spaces: An Aid to Plan with People, 59th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Greenville, NC, October 24-28, 2019

  • Inclusive Urban Development: Strategic Approach Stakeholder Meeting on Urban Studies, National Science Foundation, Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 2, 2019

  • Imposed Transformations: Four Decades of Urban Redevelopment in Colombo (with Liyanage), Post-Gentrification: Rethinking Urban Redevelopment in the World, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, July 16-17,  2018

  • Learning from Yangon: A Fulbrighter's perspective, Fulbright ASEAN 2016 Conference, Jakarta, March 17-19, 2016

  • Postcolonizing Planning: Localizing Planning in Sri Lanka, American Association of Geographers, New Orleans, LA, April 11-14, 2018

  • Growth Defies the Plan: Foreign Plans and Local Transformation in Yangon, Myanmar, Association for Asian Studies, Washington, DC, March 22-25, 2018

  • Buddhism, Nationalism, and Space: The Role of Violence and Planning in the Production of Anuradhapura Holy City (with Dissanayake), Burma Studies Conference, Oxford University, UK, March 17-19, 2018

Invited Presentations (Selected)

  • In Search of Asian Urbanisms: The Limited Visibility and the Intellectual Impasse, The Taipei National University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 29, 2014

  • Emerging Asian Urbanisms, Department of Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 11, 2014

  • In Search of Asian Urbanisms, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and Department of Urban Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, March 10. 2014

  • Transforming Asian Cities: Urban and Planning Practices, Architecture and Planning, Department, Yangon Technological University, Yangon, Myanmar, Dec 26, 2013

  • Planning after the Civil War: Approaching the Development of Mullaitivu and Oddusudan, The University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, June 18, 2012

  • Critical Vernacularism: A Locally Produced Global Difference, Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand, May 29, 2012

  • The Transforming Asian City: Impasse, Spatial practices, Emergence, The University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines, March 8, 2012

  • People’s Spaces: Exploring How People Create Their Own Spaces, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, April 19, 2012

  • Making Education Resourceful: Learning from Communities by Doing Collaborative Work, Faculty of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 10,   2020

  • Understanding Asian Urbanism: CapAsia Method, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, January 29, 2020

  • ලෝක දේශපාලනය හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල පවතින දේශපාලන ප්‍රවනතා (in Sinhala), ජනාවබෝධ කේන්ද්‍රයේ දී, Negombo, Sri Lanka, June 29, 2019

  • Growth Defies the Plan: Foreign Plans and Local Transformations in Yangon, University of Yangon, Myanmar, March 6, 2019

  • Reconciliation and Postcolonial Space, Space and Culture, City-Region Studies Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, November 30, 2018

  • Yangon: Contemporary Transformations, University College, London, January 25, 2018

  • Urban Futures: Exploring Asian Cities, Seoul National University, Korea, December 17, 2016

  • Engaging Communities: The CapAsia Experience, Centre for Excellence for Urban and Regional Development Program for June-July 2016, Yangon University, Myanmar.

  • Panelist: Building Awareness on Yangon Peri-Urban and Urban Land Issues and Perspectives for Acton Workshop, Yangon, Myanmar, May 19, 2016