Born in Calcutta & brought up in Delhi Prasanna Desai obtained his B. Arch in 1980 and M. Arch (Urban Design) in 1983, both from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA),New Delhi. He worked with Architect Achyut Kanvinde in the early years before joining post graduate studies & later started his practice with his classmate Narayan Shastri in Delhi. Together they won many architectural design competitions in the early part of their career establishing their practice. After spending more than 30 years in Delhi he moved to Pune in 1990.

He has been an inspiring teacher & active in academics for last 4 decades mentoring & nurturing students all over India. Professor & Director at P.V.P. College of Architecture, Pune he has been the guiding force in establishment of Forum for Exchange & Excellence in Design FEED, an academic platform for students & architects in the city of Pune.

He also runs an architectural practice which is involved with urban design issues emphasising the role of an architect in the Public Domain namely JNNURM BSUP Slum Rehabilitation work at Yerwada & Designing of Safe & Socially Shared Streets leading to creation of Healthy Hygienic & Humane Neighbourhoods.

The BSUP Slum Rehabilitation project was selected by Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York & was on display as part of the Exhibition titled “Design with the Other 90%: CITIES.” at United Nations in New York in 2012. The firm has JK Cement Awards 1993 & 2016, HUDCO Design Awards 2013 & 2015, IIID Anchor Awards 2015, 2016 & 2017 & LEXUS Design Awards 2019 to their credit.

The firm has done ground breaking work in public domain & feels that only people participatory equitable design solutions, can bring in desired long term improvement leading to healthier and socially integrated cities.

Currently it is working on major URBAN DESIGN initiatives namely 1.Walkable & People Friendly Neighbourhood Streets Aundh SMART CITY Pune 2.Pune Bicycle Plan (with I Trans & CEE) for Pune Municipal Corporation 3. Walkability Project in 13 cities (with SUMNet India supported by SHAKTI Foundation) 4.Akurdi Pimple Nilakh Neighbourhood Street up gradation PCMC 5.Achieving the last mile connectivity for Pune Maha-Metro (with UMTC)

Recently he has been appointed as a Global Mentor under CITIIS ( City Investments To Innovate Integrate & Sustain ) programme initiated by MoHUA ( Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs ) supported by AFD, EU & co ordinate by NIUA supporting the SCM ( Smart Cities Mission ) to guide projects of excellence, to build the capacity of the ULB’s to implement integrated projects in the cities of Visakhapatnam & Amaravati under the thematic area Social and Organisational Innovation in Low Income Settlements.

He firmly believes that an Architect who is trained to be a sensitive person needs also to be a aware citizen and activist thus playing a much larger role in the development of the society and contribute considerably for the betterment of the quality of built environment in the cities.

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