Dr. Dhara Patel is a postdoctoral researcher at TU Darmstadt and a Fellow of the Johanna Quandt Young Academy (JQYA). Trained as both an architect and urban scholar, her interdisciplinary work bridges architecture, urban sociology, and migration studies, with a particular focus on housing, spatial inequality, and transnational urbanism. She holds a PhD in Architecture, Building and Planning from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Architecture from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Her book Gated Luxury Condominiums in India: A Socio-Spatial Arena for New Cosmopolitans (Routledge, 2024) explores elite housing and socio-spatial stratification in neoliberal Indian cities, situating these developments within broader debates on globalisation and postcolonial urbanism. Her current DFG-funded project examines the housing practices of Indian Highly Skilled Migrants (HSMs) in Frankfurt, investigating how racial capitalism and real estate markets shape urban belonging and (in)visibility. Alongside her academic work, she has practiced architecture in India, Switzerland, and Australia.
Dr. Dhara Patel
