Ananya Samhita
Water
Water is a theme that I am keenly interested in focusing on. I have attempted to engage with water systems and treatment in various ways; During my internship at WELL Labs in Bengaluru (2025), I worked on irrigation mapping in Raichur, Karnataka, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The practical work involved combining spatial datasets to visualize how water flows through landscapes, the overlaying of layers (canals, agricultural plots, and groundwater recharge zones). I realised that what I was dealing with were not just maps, but that they describe the politics of access, the vulnerabilities of farmers, and pressures of climate variability.
Later that summer, I worked on a more technical project, through the IASc-INSA-NASI Summer Research Fellowship, at the National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai. There, my project was on sustainable sand filters for water purification. NIOT has developed and is testing a sustainable, plankton-free seawater filtration system that protects marine ecosystems while providing reusable water for aquaculture. I compared experimental and analytical methods to assess its performance. The technology struck me as something quite transformative– particularly in peri-urban and rural contexts where large-scale infrastructure is unaffordable.
Studying Landscapes
Remote sensing and GIS projects are another large way in which I’ve engaged with environmental studies. At Ashoka, I undertook a few studies on the wetlands of Ennore, Chennai, an area I also know personally from growing up nearby. Historically serene and biodiverse, Ennore has been transformed into an industrial hub, scattered with power plants, pipelines, and ports.
Through the Environmental Studies Fellowship Project (2023) and subsequent coursework, I used satellite imagery to document land-use changes in Ennore over decades. Classifying pixels into categories– wetlands, settlements, industrial zones, revealed a clear story: wetlands had steadily shrunk, while built-up areas multiplied. What struck me most was not just the data, but the voices I encountered during field visits– fisherfolk who could recall the exact creeks they once navigated, now replaced by ash ponds.
In urban planning debates, we often speak abstractly of “ecological services” or “buffer zones.” In Ennore, these in turn affect livelihoods, food security, and cultural identity. My preliminary findings highlighted that without integrating ecological baselines into urban planning, cities will not only lose biodiversity but also exacerbate social inequities. Remote sensing gave me the “big picture,” but conversations with communities grounded the reality of loss and adaptation.
Simulations & Models
Physics itself has shaped how I approach many environmental questions. One computational project on traffic flow models (2025) involved simulating how vehicles self-organize under different densities (a very important problem in today’s cities across the world). Using cellular automata (simple computational rules applied repeatedly), I watched how orderly streams of traffic could suddenly transition into static jams.
I realised something very important here– whether it is vehicles on a road, or people competing for urban land, or water moving through porous sand, collective dynamics often produce sudden transitions. Small changes in initial conditions can lead to large-scale consequences. Approaching these systems as a whole has influenced how I think about urban planning. For example, a poorly regulated expansion of housing colonies near a wetland may not cause visible harm initially, but beyond a tipping point, it can trigger flooding, water scarcity, or ecosystem collapse.
Further computational projects on random walks (originally used to describe Brownian motion), etc has enhanced my training in dynamic systems, where unpredictability and resilience coexist. Another area where I’ve implemented data analysis for sustainability is with the start-up company WeatherCast Solutions Pvt Ltd. at IIT Bombay (summer 2024). The company provides hyperlocal forecasts through user-friendly phone applications and technologies. My work was to analyse the efficiency of a wind farm producing wind power for electricity.
Though my technical skills have been helpful tools in research, it has also humbled me as I can see that no model captures the full complexity of lived realities.
Learning from Communities
Beyond technical projects, I have found meaning in engaging directly with people. Through the Neev community engagement club at Ashoka, I helped design science curricula for schoolchildren. At Kalakoodam in Chennai, I taught music and dance to children from fishing communities. My broader knowledge of the relationship between environmental science, sociology and politics has been enhanced through writing and editing articles as the Head of the Newsletter Department of the Ashoka Climate Change & Environmental Studies Society.
These experiences were not “research” in the conventional sense, but they reinforced why research matters: knowledge gains value only when it connects with communities. Even in academic internships, such as my GIS work for People for Aravallis (2024–25), I saw how mapping illegal mines was not just a technical task– it was part of a legal struggle to protect rivers and ecosystems in northern India. My contribution was small, but it gave me a glimpse of how data, law, and activism intersect in real-world governance.
In Conclusion
Looking back, my journey at a glance seems like a patchwork of projects. Yet, I believe there is an underlying connection between them: how we design human systems, whether urban layouts, energy infrastructures, or community institutions– shapes the sustainability of our shared future. For me, urban planning seems like an appropriate lens that ties these threads together. Not planning in the limiting to zoning and construction, but planning that acknowledges ecological limits, community voices, and systemic interconnections.
As I continue my undergraduate studies, I hope to bring together my training in physics, computational methods, and environmental studies into a more focused engagement with sustainable urban development. The path forward may involve graduate research in urban ecology, or policy engagement in planning institutions. But regardless of the form, the motivation remains the same: to contribute to cities that are not only technologically advanced but also ecologically just.
Research has taught me that data, models, and reports are equally important as stories, voices, and lived experiences. If there is one key insight I carry forward, it is that sustainability is not a purely scientific problem. It is a social, cultural, and political challenge. And to meet it, researchers must bridge disciplines, as well as the gap between technical science and communities.
About the author
Ananya Samhita is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in Physics (BSc), at Ashoka University in Sonipat.
Acknowledgement: The author sincerely thanks the IMPRI team for their valuable support.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
Read more at IMPRI:
Experiences of Urban Infrastructure and Development from a Sociological Lens
Beyond Ramps and Rails: Rethinking Accessibility in Urban Spaces Whose City Is It?
