About
About Vinayak Bharne — Urban Designer, Author & Educator
Vinayak Bharne, AICP, is an urban designer and city planner based in Los Angeles, whose distinguished 25-year career has spanned practice, research, education, and advocacy.
He is the 2024 recipient of the John Chase Visionary Award for excellence in urban design and planning from the American Planning Association Los Angeles Section, and the 2023 recipient of the Allied Professional Appreciation Award from the Indian Society of Landscape Architects — the highest national award bestowed on a non-landscape architect for significant contributions to the field.
He is the Co-Director of the global urbanism think-tank and knowledge platform, My Liveable City, and an Adjunct Professor of urbanism in the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California and the College of Urban Planning & Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Bharne’s professional portfolio spans the United States, Canada, India, Australia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Kenya, and Mauritius. His experience ranges from master plans and designs for satellite cities, new towns, neighborhoods, districts, resort-villages, campuses, streets, and housing — for corporate, private, and institutional clients — to urban regulations, policies, and strategic advising for government and non-government agencies. His career has included leadership positions in reputed planning firms in the United States where his projects received numerous local and national awards, including the 2013 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement – Overall Excellence by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the 2013 Pinnacle Award from the International Downtown Association, six national Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Excellence in Planning Implementation Award from the California Chapter of the American Planning Association
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
His academic research explores the interface of ecology, climate change, and urbanism; the conservation of indigenous habitats and communities; the impact of water crisis on cities; and the intersection of urban informality and sacredness. Recent research projects include:
• “Saving the Guna Yala” — a study on how sea-level rise and ocean acidification is threatening indigenous island villages in the Caribbean Sea.
• “Empowering the Widows of Varanasi” — a strategy for enhancing the lives of a marginalized community through small-scale urban farming and craft-making.
• “Reinventing the Qanat” — a strategy for repurposing abandoned historic subterranean
hydro-infrastructure in the deserts of Central Asia into contemporary greywater harvesting and recycling systems.
PUBLICATIONS, MEDIA & SPEAKING
A respected figure in the planning profession, Bharne is the author/editor of nine books. His interviews, essays, and opinions have been published by the Journal of Architectural Education, Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat, Monocle, The Times of India, Indian Express, Landscape Journal, Urban Design Quarterly, China Architectural Heritage, and the Japan Foundation, among others.
In 2013 he was featured as an emerging thought-leader by World Architecture News, and in 2015 honored as one of nine international trans-disciplinary urban thinkers at the Urban Edge Award Seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning. In 2026, he was appointed by the American Institute of Architects (California) on their Urban Design Awards Committee.
ADVISORY ROLES
• Advisory Board — Indian Education Society College of Architecture, Mumbai
• Studio Mentor — BMS College of Architecture, Bengaluru, India
• Advisory Council — Los Angeles Regional Planning History Group, USA
• International Speakers Bureau — Intelligent Communities Forum, Canada
• Former Jaycee Traveling Scholar to Japan
• Presidential Fellowship Recipient — USC Marshall School of Business
Urban Designer & City Planner
Los Angeles, USA
Vinayak Bharne, AICP, is an urban designer and city planner whose 25-year career spans practice, research, education and advocacy. His work includes projects across the United States, Canada, India, Australia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Kenya and Mauritius.
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