Animesh Behera joined Kühne Logistics University in July 2023 as a Research Associate for the FabCity project in the Food Research Group. His research focuses on creating a framework for analysing the potential of urban farming in cities as a tool for sustainable urbanism and its application in Hamburg. This involves examining various typologies of Urban Farming and other variables such as local climate, input conditions, space availability, nature of substrate, crop variety, key stakeholders and policy conditions.

Animesh is an Architect and Urban Sustainability professional. He holds a Master’s degree in Resource Efficiency in Architecture and Planning (MSc. REAP) from the HafenCity University in Hamburg and a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. Prior to joining KLU, Animesh worked with an Architecture and Planning Consultancy as a Manager, as an Urban Planning Consultant with CRISIL and as a Sustainable Urban Development-Smart City Technical Expert with GIZ.

He has been involved in various international organizations focusing on climate action, entrepreneurship and the SDGs. He was selected as a global talent for the SDGs, attended the UNLEASH Innovation Lab in Shenzhen (2019) and later became an SDG Global Ambassador in 2022. He won the GIZ's Business Innovation for Development program in 2021. Additionally, he was a national winner of the UN-Habitat International Competition "Urban Revitalization of Mass Housing" in 2014, received the Deutschlandstipendium and was a Climate-KIC 'Journey' fellow in 2017. His research interests include sustainable urbanism, strategies for zero energy/carbon/water/waste transitions and food sustainability.