Ashima Krishna
Clinical Associate Professor
Education
B.Arch. School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India, M.S. Cornell University, Ph.D. Cornell University
Current Courses
HONR19901: Evolution of Ideas Section: Heritage
HONR29900: Community of Inquiry Section: The Global City
HONR29901: Honors Mentors
Professional Website
Recent Publications
Krishna, A. 2021. The Evolving Role of Contemporary Conservation Architects in India: Beyond Traditional Professional Practice. Change Over Time, 10(1), 46–65. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/807670
Chalana, Manish, and Ashima Krishna (eds). Heritage Conservation in Postcolonial India: Approaches and Challenges. 2020. https://www.routledge.com/Heritage-Conservation-in-Postcolonial-India-Approaches-and-Challenges/Chalana-Krishna/p/book/9780367619947
Krishna, Ashima, Kerry Traynor, and Joy Resor. 2019. “Rethinking the Historical Significance of Modern Architecture: Lessons from the Local Landmarking of Shoreline Apartments, a Low-Income Housing Project in Buffalo.” Preservation Education and Research 11. University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/preseducrese.11.2019.0056
Krishna, Ashima, and Enjoli Hall. 2019. “Serendipitous Conservation: Faith-to-Faith Conversion of Historic Churches in Buffalo.” Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 12 (04). Routledge: 1–26. doi:10.1080/17549175.2019.1647276. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17549175.2019.1647276
Krishna, Ashima. 2016. “The Catalysts for Urban Conservation in Indian Cities: Economics, Politics, and Public Advocacy in Lucknow.” Journal of the American Planning Association 4363 (January): 1–4. doi:10.1080/01944363.2015.1132390. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2015.1132390
Krishna, Ashima. 2014. “The Care and Management of Historic Hindu Temples in India: An Examination of Preservation Policies Influenced by the Venice Charter in Non-Judeo-Christian Contexts.” Change Over Time 4 (2). University of Pennsylvania Press: 358–386. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/557043
Krishna, Ashima. 2013. “Reincarnation of the Sacred Space: Issues in Adaptive Use of Hindu Temples in India.” Forum Journal 28 (1): 37–46. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/523159
Krishna, Ashima. 2012. “The Business of Heritage.” Context: Built, Living and Natural 9 (2): 13–20. https://www.dronah.org/publications/volume-ix-issue-2/
Biography
Ashima Krishna is Clinical Associate Professor in the John Martinson Honors College. Prior to joining the Honors College, she was Associate Director of the Purdue Policy Research Institute and Assistant Professor of Practice in the Global Studies Program in Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts. She is an architect and historic preservation planner whose research spans the management of historic urban landscapes and adaptive reuse of religious historic structures and landscapes, with a particular focus on intersection with community development and equity issues and resulting policy challenges. Dr. Krishna has examined issues related to historic preservation planning and urban conservation in United States and India and continues to highlight the ways in which the historic built environment can be preserved, managed, and planned for. Her published work has been featured in Journal of Urbanism, Preservation Education and Research, Change Over Time, and Journal of American Planning Association among others. Her co-edited book Heritage Conservation in Postcolonial India: Approaches and Challenges was published by Routledge in 2020.
Dr. Krishna’s scholarship spans the disciplines of urban history, architectural history, community development, urban planning, urban governance and policy, and equity and justice, especially as related to urban decision making and equitable rights in India and more recently, in the United States. Her research has focused on the intersection of community development with broader concerns in urban history, governance, and heritage management. In particular, Dr. Krishna has addressed challenges of urban conservation and historic preservation in India’s rapidly developing second-tier cities (population between 2 and 4 million) and examined the relationship between urban conservation, urban development, local governance, local histories, and equitable heritage rights in cultural and historic urban landscapes. Dr. Krishna has not only examined this process through a historical lens, but also analyzed how local communities and neighborhoods manage their historic urban environments through advocacy and activism, leveraging political connections, and incorporating civic engagement to produce tangible results in cities that do not have enabling policies and legislation that support or encourage urban conservation. In recent years Dr. Krishna has also focused on US urban history and continues to engage in research that critically examines and challenges urban systems and their past.
Before coming to Purdue, Dr. Krishna was assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, where she also directed the graduate programs in historic preservation. Over the years, Dr. Krishna has taught both undergraduate and graduate students on interdisciplinary topics related to historic preservation, cultural heritage, and urban studies. Dr. Krishna has been a recipient of a year-long UB EXCITE fellowship from the Center for Educational Innovation at the University at Buffalo SUNY in 2016, and a semester-long Intercultural Pedagogy Grant (IPG) in 2021 from Purdue’s CILMAR. She has a bachelors degree in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, and an MA and PhD from Cornell University.
Contact Info
HCRN 1065
765-494-4158
krish191@purdue.edu