Sheela Patel

A pioneering Indian social entrepreneur who transformed urban housing rights through grassroots advocacy and community-led development.

Sheela Patel (b. 1949) is a Mumbai-based architect and founder of SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres), a network of organizations empowering informal settlements across India. In the 1980s, she challenged the government’s approach to slum redevelopment by advocating for in-situ upgrading—improving existing settlements rather than relocating residents. Her model, tested in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, became a global blueprint for participatory urban planning. Patel’s work with SPARC has directly impacted over 1.2 million slum dwellers, securing legal rights to land and services. She co-founded Ushir, a nonprofit that trains women as urban planners, and led the Right to the City campaign, influencing India’s 2011 National Urban Policy. Her research on informal economies and housing insecurity has been published in Urban Studies and Habitat International. Patel’s collaboration with the World Resources Institute on climate-resilient housing designs has been replicated in flood-prone regions like Bangladesh. In 2015, she received the Ashden Award for sustainable urban development. Her TEDx talk The Right to the City: Why Slum Dwellers Are the Solution, Not the Problem has been a catalyst for policy reforms in Southeast Asia. Patel’s legacy includes training over 500 community leaders, ensuring grassroots voices shape urban policy.