Sai Balakrishnan

Sai Balakrishnan is an Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. He serves as Co-Director of Global Metropolitan Studies and Chair of the Urban Studies undergraduate major. His research focuses on global urban inequalities, agrarian-urban land dynamics, and caste capitalism in India, particularly along economic corridors like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Balakrishnan holds a PhD from Harvard University and a Master’s from MIT.

• Education: PhD (Harvard), Master of City Planning (MIT)

Research Interests: Balakrishnan examines land-use transformations in India, emphasizing how agrarian elites and urban firms negotiate property rights. His work highlights spatial politics of urbanization, including transfer of development rights (TDR) and the geographies of caste-driven development. Recent studies include a global comparative analysis of TDR systems in New York and Mumbai, and a book project on caste capitalism and uneven development in India since the colonial era.

Publications: His 2019 book Shareholder Cities explores land conflicts and agrarian-urban transformations along India’s economic corridors. Key articles include analyses of land markets in Mumbai and Bangalore, and the intersection of highway infrastructure with decentralization challenges.

• Awards: William Holland Prize (2013), ACSP Gill Chin Lim Award (2014)

Advising & Grants: Balakrishnan collaborates on interdisciplinary projects linking urban planning, political economy, and social justice. Ongoing work includes a book on caste capitalism and studies of land-based financing for infrastructure in India.

Labs/Teams: Active in Berkeley’s Global Metropolitan Studies initiative, focusing on transnational urbanization processes.