Dr. Geeta Mehta is an adjunct professor of architecture and urban design at Columbia University. She has worked on design projects in USA, India, China, Austria, France, Ukraine, Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, Ghana and Kenya. Geeta was recognized as one of the 21 Leaders of the 21st Century by Women’s eNews in 2015, and by HSBC Bank as one of the Social Entrepreneurs of the year in 2017.

Geeta is the founder and president of Asia Initiatives (www.asiainitiatives.org), a non-profit organization with a mission to help under-served communities through empowering women. For this work, she has been called “the architect of women’s empowerment”. Geeta is the innovator of Social Capital Credits (SoCCs), a virtual currency for social good that has been used in USA, India, Ghana, Kenya to incentivize participation in community improvement projects. In April 2018 Asia Initiatives won the Happy City competition, and has been invited to implement SoCCs in the entire capital city of Amravati in India.

Geeta is also the co-founder of “URBZ: User Generated Cities” (www.urbz.net), that works with underserved communities to help them transform their neighborhoods through advocacy and by improving public spaces and homes.

Geeta served as the president of the American Institute of Architects’ Japan Chapter while she lived in Tokyo. She currently serves on the board of advisors of Millennium Cities Initiative at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Center for Living Cities, and Friends of University of Tokyo. She is a frequent juror for design competitions and a speaker at forums related to urban design and social justice.  She is also the co-author of five books. More about her is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeta_Mehta and at https://www.arch.columbia.edu/faculty/52-geeta-mehta