Nihal Perera, PhD
Activist-Researcher-educator; advocate for Spatial justice and inclusive development
Emeritus Professor of urban development
founder and Director CapAsia (1998-2022)
Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
Nihal Perera's main research interest is in the social production of space. Paying special attention to the politics of space, and stepping beyond the state, the market, and formality, he focuses on how ordinary people—with no formal authority—produces space, both transforming found, provided, and/or imposed spaces (and resources) and creating their own, to best support their life journeys.
X X X X X
Highlighting how Asian cities (inhabitants and processes) have become databases for imported theories, and the need to contextualize understandings, Transforming Asian Cities calls for the study of Asian cities on their own terms, from the cities themselves, rather than from outside. Nihal’s first book Decolonizing Ceylon maps out how Ceylon (Sri Lanka from 1972) was produced from Colombo, a European colonial outpost which did not evolve from the hinterland, and its post-colonial politics of space. Addressing a huge gap in the work of Lefebvre and Harvey, but critically building on their work, People's Spaces demonstrates that it is the users who bring the abstract spaces of the state and capital to life. It demonstrates how designed, planned, and imposed spaces are familiarized by the subjects, making these more supportive of their needs and wants, and create their own, making the state and the market negotiate. Delving into post-development, the special issue of Bhumi demonstrates how postcolonial governments in Sri Lanka (as many others) have squandered national (economic) development opportunities and the potential of locally-grown (globally-contextualized) alternatives.
Perera’s other publications address Importing Urban Problems which created the need for urban planning in the 1920s; the establishment of contemporary planning (Planners’ City); Indigenizing and Feminizing the City by subjects; Contesting Modernities in Chandigarh; the attempt to Redevelop Dharavi, the making of Wanathamulla by its inhabitants; and the racist underpinnings of American urban planning.
The two-time Fulbright Senior-Scholar (China and Myanmar) was Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore, Melting Pot Fellow at King Mongkut Institute (KMITL), Bangkok, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Alberta, and Graham Foundation Fellow. He received three Fulbright-Hays awards and was nominated for Fukuoka, Heiskell, and Malone awards for international education. Besides the USA, Nihal has taught in China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
His main contribution to teaching and pedagogy is CapAsia, a reflective-learning immersive-semester in Asia in which the participants learn about communities from community-members’ perspectives questioning the stereotypes they carry, doing collaborative work with local students and experts. Most crucially, they learn about their own communities, environments, and selves through reflection.
... and only begun. His seeking out, engaging intelect and quiet conversation ... one of his tools. (Reviewer)
Free Online course in Sinhala: පාඨමාලාව:
Recent News
Interview: Nihal Perera on the Social Production of Space
Book: People’s Spaces (Routledge 2016)
Colombo: From Colonial Outpost to Indigenous Kleptocratic City, chapter in Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities, ed.: Richard Hu: 201-12. Routledge, 2023
Spatializing Nationalism and Religion: The Production of Sinhala-Buddhist Imagination and the Centrality of Anuradhapura, (With Pradeep Sangapala) Space and Culture: DOI: 10.1177/12063312231210152: 35-51, 2023
Aragalaya: Struggle for Space and the Spaces of the Struggle, Polity, 12, 2 (December 2024): 12-19.
Migrant Women Transforms Nelibewa, with Kaushalya Herath, SouthAsia Research, (June 2025).
forthComing
සිලෝනයෙන් ලංකාවට: යටත් විජිතත්වය, ජාතිය, හා අවකාශීය දේශපාලනය. (translation of Decolonizing Ceylon) Colombo: Vidarshana Publishers, 2025.
Colombo as Kleptocratic City: Explaining the Contemporary Transformation of Colombo, chapter in Post-Gentrification, ed.: Carolyn Cartier. New York: Routledge, 2025 (forthcoming).
Investors Defy the Plan, the City Follows Growth; The Modernization of Yangon (Myanmar), Journal of Positions: Asia Critique, (forthcoming, 2025).
Beyond Colonialism: Overlooked Postcolonial Design Practices, Conference on Architecture, Modern Heritage and Urbanism: Spaces of Power and Identity in South Asia, Pakistan Chowk Community, Karachchi, Pakistan, 7-16 July, 2025
People's Spaces
People's Spaces investigates how ordinary people produce spaces for their daily activities and cultural practices within extant potential and limitations. At the base of social space is the conflict between provided/ imposed/ available spaces and the needs and wants of the users. The negotiation of the gap between the abstract perceptions of the provider and the local needs of the user (subject) produces people’s spaces. The conflict is evident in the constant pushing and pulling of the boundary between the provided and used space by the authorities and “people” who are not formally authorized to produce space. From the people's side, the processes range from coping and nibbling on abstract spaces to directly producing lived space such as self-established settlements and chowks. The authorities use from small fines to wholesale urban renewal to negotiate.
These together create social space.
සිලෝනයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට: යටත්විජිතත්වය, ජාතිය සහ අවකාශීය දේශපාලනය
(පරිවර්තනය: විදුර මුණසිංහ / සංස්කරණය: චන්ද්‍ර ලේකම්ආරච්චි; ප්‍රථම සිංහල මුද්‍රණය, තම්බපණ්ණි 2022)
සිලෝනයෙන් ශ්‍රීලංකාවට: යටත්විජිතත්වය, ජාතිය, සහ අවකාශීය දේශපාලනය කෘතිය මුල්වරට Society and Space නමින් 1998 වසරේච ද එහි සංස්කරණයක් Decolonizing Ceylon නමින් 1999 වසරේ දී ඉංග්‍රීසි බසින් පළවිය.
මේ කෘතිය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමාජ අවකාශය ඓතිහාසිකව ගොඩනැගී ඇති ආකාරය ගවේෂණය කරයි. ලෝක පද්ධති පර්යාවලෝකයක, භූ-දර්ශන අර්ථ නිරූපණ ක්‍රමවේදය සහ යටත් විජිත වාස්තු විද්‍යාව හා නාගරීකරණය පිළිබඳ න්‍යායන් උපයෝගී කරගනිමින් නිහාල් පෙරේරා විසින් යටත් විජිතකරණ සහ පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ගොඩනැගීම දෙස බලන්නේ, මේ එක් එක් කාලයේ සිදුවූ අවකාශීය පරිවර්තනයන් සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින්ය. දේශපාලනික, ආර්ථික හා සංස්කෘතික පද්ධති පරිවර්තනයට ලක් කිරීමේ කොටසක් ලෙස මෙම අවකාශීය අංශවල අන්තර්-සම්බන්ධතා සහ අර්ථයන් පෙන්වා දෙමිනි. කතුවරයා මේ කර්තව්‍යයන් අර්ථකථනය කිරීමේදී ගොඩනැගීම, භුමිය බලයෙන් අත්පත්කරගැනීම සහ නාගරික භූ දර්ශන සහ නිර්මිත අවකාශයන්හි ඇති වැදගත්කම තේරුම්ගැනීම මැනවින් විශ්ලේෂණය කරයි. මෙම කෘතිය ඉතිහාසයේ විවිධ අවස්ථාවලදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝක පද්ධතිය තුළ ස්ථානගත කර ඇති ආකාරය අර්තවිවරණය කිරීමේදී අවකාශය සහ ගොඩනඟන ලද පරිසරය කේන්ද්‍රීයව වැදගත්වන ආකාරය සොයාබලයි. ඒ සමගම එය දේශීය දේශපාලනයේ හා සංස්කෘතියේ නිශ්චිත කරුණු පිළිබඳ සංවේධීභාවයක් ද විශ්ලේෂණයට ගෙන එයි. ‘පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත පරිධියේ’ සිට සිය රචනාකරණයේ යෙදෙන නිහාල් පෙරේරා තර්ක කරන්නේ, ඕනෑම සමාජයක් හා සංස්කෘතියක් අවබෝධ කරගැනීමට උත්සාහ දරන්නවුන්ට අවකාශය හා අවකාශීය ව්‍යුහයන් ගොඩනැගීම පාලනය කරන දේශපාලනික ගතික තේරුම් ගැනීම මූලික වශයෙන් වැදගත් වන බවයි.
The Bookmakers #2
"From Victims to Agents of Change: How Ordinary People Create "Lived" Spaces"
School of Environment & Architecture, Mumbai, India, December 10, 2024
Space is central to society. Per mainstream discourses, social space is largely produced by the state and capital. Nihal Perera’s work takes issue with this preconception and addresses a significant gap left by the leaders in the field of social production of space including Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey. As demonstrated in his People’s Spaces (Routledge 2016), the adaptation, interpretation, transformation, and creation of spaces are also carried out by ordinary people. Perera argues that the vast terrain of ordinary actors and spaces which are currently marginalized should be reflected in academic debates and policy decisions and that the local thinking processes that constitute these spaces need to be acknowledged, enabled, and critiqued. Adopting an inside-out perspective, empathic to the subjects, and using field studies, Professor Perera will demonstrate how subjects reconcile the difference between the intended goals of imposed/provided spaces and ordinary people’s own understandings and expectations of these, creating spaces for their daily activities and cultural practices. At the other end, the spaces ordinary people produce make the state and capital negotiate their needs. He will highlight the need to switch intellectual tools.