Amitabh Verma

Associate Professor

Amitabh Verma
Amitabh Verma

Associate Professor

 

 

 

Address

285 S. Jackson Street, Room 145

I teach and write about two different areas, Design Communication and Urban Design. For Design Communication I explore strategies to promote hand graphics as a tool for creative expression. I am also active in promoting sketching to designers and non-designers for its mental health benefits. For Urban Design, I teach studios which enable students to engage with place-making at a local scale, while my research address the complex challenges in urban development in India.

My professional background includes urban design, architecture, and historic preservation. I am also an artist (drawing, silk dyeing, computer illustration), graphic / visual designer, and UX designer. Before teaching, I worked for over twelve years at design firms in the United States and India.

Personal Interests

Drawing, graphic design, reading, cooking, travel.

Social Links
Research Areas
  • Design Communication, Graphic Representation, Visual / Graphic Design, Sketching and Mental Health.
  • Urban Design, Urbanization in India, Heritage Conservation, Water in the Cityscape.
Teaching Expertise

Design Communication, Hand Graphics, Urban Design, Construction, Architecture.

Sketching Workshops

Reducing stress and anxiety

  • “Sketching for Centering”, CELA Conference, 2021
  • Fontaine Center, UGA Health Center, Athens, GA
  • UGA Human Resources / Training & Development, Athens, GA
  • Salesforce, Bellevue, WA
  • Terry College of Business, UGA, Athens, GA
  • UC Berkeley Staff Development, Berkeley, CA

Promoting design thinking and creativity

  • Cedar Shoals High School, Athens, GA
  • Jackson County Comprehensive High School, Jefferson, GA
  • East Jackson High School, Commerce, GA
  • Olson-Kundig Architects, Seattle, WA
  • Berger Partnership, Seattle
  • LABash Annual Conference 2019, Athens, GA
  • UGA Alumni Weekend, Athens, GA
  • SF User Experience Designers, San Francisco, CA
Conference Presentations
  • Manual Skills, Technological Present: Identity of hand graphics in landscape architecture today.’ CELA, Sacramento, CA, 2019.
  • Nature in the Indian Mega-City: Locating Identity and Place’. CELA, Austin, TX, 2013.
  • Creating Connection to Place: Using Local Landscape Tradition to Redefine the Identity of Chandigarh, India’. CELA, Tucson, AZ, 2009.
  • (with Akers, M.A.A., Harrison G., & Martin C.)  ‘The Torrance Test of Creativity in Landscape Architecture’. CELA, Tucson, AZ, 2009.
  • Collaborative Diversity: Deriving an Urban Design Paradigm from Historic Mumbai for Planning Future Neighborhoods’. EDRA, Vera Cruz, Mexico, 2008.
  • Landscape as Maker of Identity: A Case Study of Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex in Chandigarh’. EDRA, Atlanta, GA, 2006.
  • Reinventing the Cultural Landscape: Chandigarh in the Contemporary Environment’. IAPS, Stockholm, Sweden, 1996.
Education
  • MLA (with Distinction), University of Georgia, 1994
  • BArch (with Honors), Mumbai University, 1991
Awards & Recognition
  • Research Travel Award, UGA President’s Venture Fund
  • Outstanding Teacher Award, College of Environment and Design
  • Outstanding Faculty Award, College of Environment and Design Alumni Association
  • Award for Excellence in Research & Creative Works, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture
  • Best Paper Award, UNESCO-ICCROM Conference
  • Writing Fellowship, UGA Center for Teaching and Learning
Publications

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