Aniruddha Dasgupta

Global Director, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Bio

Aniruddha (Ani) Dasgupta is the Global Director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, WRI’s program that galvanizes action to help cities grow more sustainably and improve quality of life in developing countries around the world. Ani guides WRI Sustainable Cities in developing environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable solutions to improve people’s quality of life in developing cities. Ani leads the program’s team of global experts in sustainable transport, urban development and building efficiency, as well as its engagement across low-carbon energy, governance, water risk, and associated areas as well as serves as a member of WRI’s global management team, helping to shape the institute’s overall strategy and growth.

Prior to joining WRI, Ani served at the Director of Knowledge and Learning at the World Bank, where he provided leadership and direction for the Bank’s role in offering knowledge services for development. In 2010, he helped develop the World Bank’s first knowledge strategy. Before leading the Bank’s knowledge work, he coordinated the Bank’s internal reform program as the director of the Reform Secretariat. Prior to these corporate responsibilities, Ani spent the majority of this career in the operational part of the Bank including five years in the Jakarta office as the head of infrastructure.

An urban professional, Ani has dedicated himself for over 15 years to international development with a focus on the urbanization, urban environment and infrastructure. He has done extensive operational work in Asia and Eastern Europe as an technical expert centered on community based development, urban environment, disaster management, solid waste management, water supply and sanitation. He was extensively involved in the post tsunami reconstruction of Aceh as an advisor to the government on housing and infrastructure reconstruction and as the head of the Bank’s housing and infrastructure team.

Ani holds a Masters Degree in City Planning and a Masters Degree in Architecture, both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His PhD work, at the planning school at MIT, focused on services for urban poor. He received a Bachelor degree in Architecture with an emphasis on low Income Housing from the School of Planning and Architecture in India.

He has researched and written widely on Community Driven and Community Based development, urban poverty in East Asia, and more recently on Knowledge and Learning for development. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and twin boys.

Blog Posts

Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’ Part of Growing Global Focus on Unequal Cities
by Aniruddha Dasgupta - August 31, 2017
Diagnosed in the U.S., "winner-take-all urbanism" also afflicts cities in the fast-growing global south in noxious ways that demand unique solutions—starting with participatory development that prioritizes improvements where people already live.
Finding Your Place in the Global Urban Movement to Fight Climate Change
by Aniruddha Dasgupta - June 26, 2017
Cities are already playing a key role in tackling climate change, even as the Trump administration signals a U.S. pull-out from the Paris Agreement. But what can one person do to help make cities healthier, more sustainable and more productive?
India Can Save Up to $1.8 Trillion per Year with Smart Urban Growth
by Aniruddha Dasgupta - December 01, 2016
Research from the New Climate Economy finds that compact cities experienced faster economic growth from 2002-2012 than sprawled cities. The findings have huge implications for India’s future development.
WRI Expert Forum: How Should COP22 Move the Needle on Climate Action?
by Paula Caballero, Joe Thwaites, Craig Hanson and Aniruddha Dasgupta - November 03, 2016
Four of WRI's top experts explain what they're watching for as the UN climate negotiations in Marrakech kick into gear.
Development Finance Institutions Have a Role to Play in Creating Sustainable Cities
by Giulia Christianson and Aniruddha Dasgupta - October 28, 2016
By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world's population will reside in cities, increasing the size of the world's urban population by more than two-thirds. Cities will need to focus on building the right things to ensure this growth happens sustainably—so how can they pay for it?
Q&A with Ani Dasgupta: What’s at Stake for Cities at Habitat III?
by Aniruddha Dasgupta and Katherine Ann Peinhardt - October 05, 2016
WRI is engaging in Habitat III -- the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito, Ecuador, October 17-20 -- to help create the sustainable, equitable, prosperous cities of the future. Ani Dasgupta, Global Director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, answers key questions to explain what's at stake.
A New Coalition Will Prove Sustainable Cities Are Better for Growth, Better for Climate
by Aniruddha Dasgupta, Seth Schultz and Nick Godfrey - May 05, 2016
The Coalition for Urban Transitions is one of the first international initiatives to examine the economics of sustainable cities. The Coalition will put urban infrastructure investment where it belongs—at the heart of national economic development planning.
Creating a Common Narrative for Financing a Sustainable Urban Future
by Aniruddha Dasgupta, Mark Watts and Brandee McHale - March 23, 2016
Recent economic research estimates a $4.1 to 4.3 trillion annual investment gap between the urban infrastructure we have and the amount we need. That's why WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, C40 and the Citi Foundation are partnering to help cities around the world accelerate the implementation of low-carbon urban solutions.
DC’s Metro Closure Shows Why Creating Trust in Public Transit Matters
by Aniruddha Dasgupta - March 16, 2016
With the 29-hour closure of Washington, D.C.'s Metro, trust in the city's public transit system is at a low point. But, the shutdown isn’t just bad for the Metro; it has broader impacts for the whole of the city.
How Mobile Apps Are Improving India’s Rickshaws
by Aniruddha Dasgupta - January 14, 2016
How can rickshaws, which account for 20 percent of motorized trips in some Indian cities, be made to work more reliably? There's an app for that.

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Aniruddha Dasgupta

Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’ Part of Growing Global Focus on Unequal Cities

Finding Your Place in the Global Urban Movement to Fight Climate Change

India Can Save Up to $1.8 Trillion per Year with Smart Urban Growth

WRI Expert Forum: How Should COP22 Move the Needle on Climate Action?

Development Finance Institutions Have a Role to Play in Creating Sustainable Cities

Q&A with Ani Dasgupta: What’s at Stake for Cities at Habitat III?

A New Coalition Will Prove Sustainable Cities Are Better for Growth, Better for Climate

Creating a Common Narrative for Financing a Sustainable Urban Future

DC’s Metro Closure Shows Why Creating Trust in Public Transit Matters

How Mobile Apps Are Improving India’s Rickshaws

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