Dr. Ajay Kumar Gautam is a Visiting Fellow at LSE International Inequalities Institute. Previously, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. 

Ajay is an interdisciplinary development scholar with an MPhil and PhD in Law and Governance from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. His research explores the intersection of political economy and the social outcomes of regional (rural and urban) development, focusing on local governance and the planning of large-scale urban development projects.  

His work emphasizes themes of social inequality, marginality, and stratification, with particular attention to land and labor issues, community life and livelihoods, as well as the dynamics of caste, gender, and emerging socio-economic disparities in regional spaces, especially in the post-liberalization period. 

Through his research in peri-urban areas of Delhi NCR , Ajay seeks to understand how community and governance structures—across both urban and rural contexts—interact with diverse planning practices to produce both beneficial and adverse social outcomes. His studies engage deeply with the complexities of peri-urban India while generating theoretical insights that contribute to the broader discourse in global urban studies.