Alpa Nawre is a Spring 2016 Mellon Fellow in Urban Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. Issues pertinent to the design of urban water infrastructure, and resource challenges in the context of rapidly urbanizing developing countries inform her research, teaching, and practice. Her writings have been published as books chapters and in journals such as Landscape Journal, Journal of Landscape Architecture, India, and JoLA. At Dumbarton Oaks, Nawre’s research focuses on the land-water edges of ponds (or talaab in Hindi), rivers (ghat) and canals in India. The multifunctional use and adaptability of these culturally embedded landscape systems builds a compelling argument for rethinking the design of rigid, monofunctional, and culturally disconnected contemporary urban water infrastructure throughout the world.
Nawre holds a post-professional master’s degree in urban design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University, and a bachelor in architecture from NIT, Raipur, India. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) and on the Alumni Advisory Board of Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, LSU. Nawre is a licensed landscape architect in Kansas, a licensed architect in India, and a LEED AP, and has worked internationally in design offices in India, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning at Kansas State University and partner at her design practice, Alpa Nawre Design.