Keynote Addresses (Selected)
Continuing Coloniality: Rescuing Sri Lanka from the Past, Research Conference, Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo, November 6, 2023
Beyond the Impasse: Leading the Urban Transformation, Sustainable Architecture(s)-Humane Cities. Dayananda Sagar School of Architecture, Bengaluru, India, March 23, 2022
Spatial Production of Ceylon: Sri Lanka and Its Identity, Inaugural Session of the History and Community Project 2021, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 13, 2021
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
INVITED PRESENTATIONS (SELECTED)
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
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
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
People’s Spaces and Informality, School of Planning and Architecture, Brick by Brick: Informal Housing and Efficiency of State Interventions in the Global South, New Delhi, India, March 22, 2024
The Future of Asia: Viewed from its Urban Transformation, India International Center, New Delhi, India, March 5, 2024
Urban Space as Contested: Decolonizing Placemaking, South Asia University, New Delhi, India, February 28,2024
From Victims to Agents of Change: Ordinary People Creating “lived spaces,” Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, February 27, 2024
Victims Exercise Agency: Rescuing “Lived Spaces” from Epistemic Subjugation, Delhi University, New Delhi, India, February 26, 2024
(Re)Thinking Architecture from the Place of Production, talkdwell series, Civil Engineering Auditorium, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, February 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024
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
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