Tuesday
20
January 2026
9:30 AM IST
Location
Room 002, Centre for Heritage Management
Central Campus
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Conservation of Cultural Landscapes
Masterclass
Kiran Shinde
Associate Editor
Tourism Geographies
Speaker
In this presentation, Dr Shinde discusses cultural landscape as key elements of religious geography in India. He uses examples from Hindu and Buddhist sacred sites to explain how they frame the imagination and reality of such of landscapes. However, with changing modes of travels such landscapes are also being transformed because of religious tourism. He will illustrate how such tourism is changing the character and identity of cultural landscapes and leading to newer configurations of socio-spatial patterns, particularly those that are known for their significant religious heritage. He will dwell on the intersections of planning for tourism and tourist destinations and heritage management using a variety of case studies. In the process, he will unpack some of the complexities related to governance issues regarding religious and cultural heritage, its conservation, promotion, and management for tourism.
Speaker
Kiran Shinde
Dr Kiran Shinde has researched extensively on topics related to cultural heritage and tourism. With five books plus 70 research articles published in high-ranking journals and books with reputed publishers, he is considered as a leading scholar on religious and cultural tourism and their intersections with urban planning and management. His books include Religious Heritage and Tourism in Asia (co-edited with Dallen Timothy, Routledge); A Research Agenda for Religious Tourism (2024, co-edited with Joseph Cheer, Edward Elgar); Religious Tourism and the Environment (co-edited with Daniel Olsen, 2020, CABI); and Buddhist Tourism in Asia: Towards Sustainable Development (2020, UNWTO: Madrid). He was the Lead Author and Editor-in-Chief of South Asia monographs for a UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) project entitled “Buddhist Tourism in Asia: Towards Sustainable Development”, which covers Buddhist heritage and tourism in 16 countries. He is an Associate Editor for top-ranking journal Tourism Geographies; and a member of the editorial board for Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Planning and Development. He is a former head of the Planning Program at La Trobe University, Australia. He holds a PhD in Geography and Environmental Science from Monash University, Australia.
