Amar Sawhney

GUSC founder and CEO, Professor of Architecture, Building Construction & Interior Design at Miami-Dade College Professor Sawhney, founder and president of Global Urban Sustainable Center.  He has taught Architecture, Building construction and Urban Planning for more than 50 years to Miami-Dade College, Boston Architectural College, and Cornell University.  A graduate of Cornell university in Urban design, he has 56 graduate credits in Urban Planning from University of Miami and Cornell University. His students have joined FIU, Cornell, UF, Pratt and IIT. 

 

Sawhney’s interest is in Architecture, Building Construction city design, sustainability and informal settlements in North America, India, and Latin America.  Sawhney earned a $10 million grant from the Department of Labor in 2016 and brought his college $5 million on workforce development programs.  He has been awarded two MDC Endowed chairs and three fellowships by international organizations like American Institute of Indian studies and Council of American Overseas Research Centers.  Professor Sawhney is a Fulbright specialist in Urban Planning, currently leading an Urban Sustainability faculty development seminar in India, and is working with Alexandria University in Egypt, to resolve rainwater management issues within the city.

 

His interest in cities started in 1964 when he was a student at Chandigarh College of Architecture.  His inspiration started with the Le Corbusier design, and he joined Professor Colin Rowe and Ungers to pursue his Master of Architecture in Urban Design and graduate work in Urban Planning. His master thesis was on new towns in Asia, Latin America and North America, which resulted in the awareness of poverty in these countries. His research says poverty, crime is the result of bad urban planning and neglecting underserved communities.

 

He has dedicated his life towards eliminating poverty in North America, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. His students all over the world are promoting elimination of poverty through the urban planning process and designing cities, making underserved communities a main point of attraction in terms of allocating resources. His present interest is to help the communities of Coconut Grove, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little Havana in Miami, and informal communities in Lucknow, Dharamshala, Chandigarh, Ludhiana India.

 

Professor Sawhney has traveled in Europe and conducted studio programs for MDC students over the years.