Rana P. B. Singh

The Prof. Rana P. B. Singh has been Professor of Cultural Landscapes & Heritage Studies at Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, UP 221005, India, and was Head (2013–2015)- Department of Geography, Institute of Science. For the last four decades as consultant, project director, collaborator and organiser, he has been involved in studying sacred geography, cultural landscapes and heritagescapes, & performing and promoting the heritage planning, ecotourism, and pilgrimage tourism in the Varanasi region, and also did field studies in Japan, Italy, Sweden, Korea. He has been Visiting Professor at Virginia Tech (USA), Japan Foundation Scientist at Okayama, Indo–Swedish Visiting Professor at Karlstad, Ron Lister lecturer at University of Otago (NZ), Linnaus-Palme Visiting Professor at Karlstad University (Sweden), and Indo-Japan Exchange Professor at Gifu Women’s University and Toyo University Tokyo. As visiting scholar he delivered seminars at many universities/institutes in Australia, Austria, Belgium, P.R. China, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Indonesia (Bali), Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA (including Hawaii), Thailand, and Russia (USSR). He is the Founding President of the (a) Society of Pilgrimage Studies, SPS (fd. 1989), (b) Society of Heritage Planning & Environmental Health, SHPEH (fd. 1989), (c) Indo-Japanese Cultural Association, IJCAB (fd. 1984), and (d) Indo–Italy Cultural Association, IICA (fd. 2002). During 1985–1995, he has served as Assoc./ Executive Editor of the National Geographical Journal of India. He was also a Member, South Asia, IGU Initiative: Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development, 2005–2008. He is a Member of the Steering Committee of the International Geographical Union- Commission, 2012–2021: (i) Cultural Approach in Geography (C16.07), and (ii) Landscape Analysis and Landscape Planning (C16.25); and General Member: IUCN Specialist Group on ‘Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas’ (CSVPA); Expert & Voting Member ICOMOS International scientific Committee on ‘Places of Religion and Rituals’ (PRERICO). Earlier as a founding member of ACLA- Asian Cultural Landscape Association (SNU Seoul, Korea), he had served as Vice President (2011–2017), and successively serving as President (2018–2021). Eighteen students are awarded PhD degrees under his supervision. His publications include 15 monographs, 26 books, and over 310 research papers, including articles in the reputed journals like the GeoJournal, Architecture & Behaviour, Erdkunde, Geoscience & Man, Pennsylvania Geographer, The Ley Hunter, Asian Profile, and Place, and in the series from Routledge, Springer Nature, Oxford, Cambridge, Ashgate, CABI International, etc. His recent publications include Environmental Ethics (1993), The Spirit and Power of Place (1994), Towards the Pilgrimage Archetype: The Panchakroshi Yatra of Banaras (2002), Where the Buddha Walked (2003/2009), Cultural Landscapes and the Lifeworld (2004), Banaras, The City Revealed (with George Michell, 2005), Banaras, Making of India’s Heritage City (2009), Heritagescapes and Cultural Landscapes (2011), Sacredscapes and Pilgrimage SystemsHoly Places and Pilgrimages: Essays on India (2011), and Hindu tradition of Pilgrimage: Sacred Space & System (2013).

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