The Architecture/Landscape/Interiors Department at Otis College of Art and Design is pleased to announce selection of Geeta Mehta as the 2019-2020 Donghia Designer-in-Residence!
 
Geeta Mehta will present a public lecture, “Building Social Capital by Design,” on March 11, 2020, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and direct a one-week Master Class at Otis College of Art and Design between March 12 and 18, 2020.

Dr. Geeta Mehta is an adjunct professor of architecture and urban design at Columbia University. She has worked on urban design projects in India, China, Austria, France, Ukraine, Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, Ghana, Kenya and USA. Geeta was recognized as one of the 21 Leaders of the 21st Century by Women’s eNews in 2015, and by HSBC Bank as the Social Entrepreneur of the year in 2017. She also serves on the New York City Mayor’s Waterfront Advisory Board.  

Geeta is the founder and president of Asia Initiatives, a non-profit organization with a mission to help under-served communities through design and through empowering women. She is the innovator of Social Capital Credits (SoCCs), a virtual currency for social good that is being used in India, Ghana, Kenya and USA to incentivize participation in community improvement projects. In 2018 Asia Initiatives won the Happy City Competition to implement SoCCs in the capital city of Amravati in Andhra Pradesh, India. Asia Initiatives also received the Regional MIT Inclusive Innovation Award in 2019 for SoCCs.  

Geeta is also the co-founder of “URBZ: User Generated Cities,” that works with underserved communities to help them transform their own neighborhoods through advocacy and by improving public spaces and homes.  

Geeta served as the president of the American Institute of Architects’ Japan Chapter while she lived in Tokyo and currently serves on the board of advisors of Millennium Cities Initiative at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Center for the Living City, and Friends of University of Tokyo. She is a frequent juror for design competitions and a speaker at forums related to urban design and social justice.  She is also the co-author of six books.  

See more about Geeta Mehta at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeta_Mehta and https://www.arch.columbia.edu/faculty/52-geeta-mehta