Prayash is a Program Manager with the Sustainable Cities and Transport team. He joined WRI India in 2016, and is based out of Delhi.

His work centers on providing knowledge and capacity building advisory to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), as well as State Governments, Urban Local Bodies, and Public Sector Undertakings. Key engagements he has supported include the handholding of cities under MoHUA’s national pilot on Local Area Plans and Town Planning Schemes, design and deployment of MoHUA’s Global Housing Technology Challenge, and anchoring of state-level training programs under various national urban development schemes.

Prior to joining WRI India, Prayash worked as a grant-maker, field researcher, architect, and urban designer with philanthropies, advocacy groups, and built environment combines. Key assignments he has supported include UN-Habitat’s Urban Youth Fund, Mumbai’s Development Plan review, community-led slum upgrading proposals for Dar es Salaam, envisioning theory of change frameworks to counter gentrification in London, sections Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Riverfront Development Scheme, Delhi’s nomination to UNESCO for World Heritage Site status, and urban renewal proposals for downtown Lyon.

Prayash studied Urban Development Planning (M.Sc.) at University College London (UCL), and Architecture (B.Arch.) at School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi. A lifelong resident of Delhi, he has briefly called Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, London, and Paris home as well. Prayash is also a published travel photographer, and enjoys competitive quizzing and working out in his free time.