A native of Bombay, India, Vidhee Garg (M.R.P. ’13) has always taken an interest in the development of the built environment. After working as an architect in India for a few years, Garg moved to the U.S. to pursue the M.R.P. program at Cornell, where she focused her studies on the financial and policy frameworks of affordable housing projects. Following graduation and affordable housing work experience in New York and Boston, she joined the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) in Boston, a consulting organization that specializes in providing financial and policy advice for housing projects in the Global South.
In her most recent role as Principal at AHI, her work portfolio included advising clients in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the South Pacific, including the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, and Habitat for Humanity International. She co-led AHI’s Aarohi Fund, which is a socially-motivated investor that assists early-stage affordable housing entities to achieve their objectives through offering capital resources and technical assistance. She is currently based in Amsterdam, where she is working as an independent consultant.
Q: When did you decide you wanted to pursue a career in planning?
Garg: Having grown up in Bombay, I think, at some level, I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career in planning, but the desire was cemented when I was in architecture school. With Bombay being the urban laboratory for most of my undergraduate education, it forced me to explore, question, and critically analyze development, and made me realize the importance of policy and finance in shaping urban environments. Wanting to learn more about “what happens behind the scenes before the architect comes into the picture?” nudged me toward planning school. (I now realize that it’s not quite as sequential!)
Q: When you first began the MRP program at Cornell, did you already know that you were interested in working on affordable housing development and policies?
Garg: Yes, I came into the MRP program knowing that I wanted to work in affordable housing. That said, there’s no “Master’s in Housing” program, so I knew I’d have to carve out a class schedule that would get me at least somewhat close to that. Particular classes that stand out, even seven years later, are CRP’s Affordable Housing Policy and Programs and the NYC Workshop (we didn’t have the NYC semester then), and the Baker Program’s Principles of Real Estate. Those classes helped me build a solid foundation and network when I was starting out in affordable housing.
Q: What was your first role after graduating from Cornell?
Garg: My first role was working as a Project Manager in the Real Estate Department at a community development corporation (Codman Square) in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
Q: How did your work routine change after moving from a local CDC setting to an international consulting organization?
Garg: That is such an interesting question. For starters, it wasn’t a 9-to-5 or a day job anymore! With clients in different parts of the world, calls at odd hours were (and still are) the norm. Another significant change was the travel – both a blessing and a challenge. Not having daily or regular access to clients/partners, it’s important to make the most of work trips and the face time I get with them, to set myself and my team up with the information we need to get the work done once we’re back at home base. But there’s one critical aspect that has been common across both roles – bridging the cultural gap. Whether working with low-income communities in Boston or in Bangalore, one has to be mindful and sensitive to the local context and I am so grateful that my job gives me the opportunity to do that every day.
Q: What are some of the key differences working on affordable housing projects in an international context, versus domestic (U.S.) projects?
Garg: The key differences are – (i) the limited time you have to go from 0 to 100 in terms of understanding the local context and (ii) the limited face time you get with local stakeholders. This is why, in almost all of our projects, we have a local counterpart who has a deep, innate understanding of the context and connections to other local stakeholders. Our world is getting smaller every day, and the combination of local and global knowledge and contacts is key to success in any international venture.
Q: When you begin a new project, what kinds of characteristics do you first research and analyze?
Garg: To familiarize myself with a new geography, the three things I first research are the government structure, administrative divisions, and the economy. I’ve found that having a basic understanding of these three characteristics forms a solid base as I then deep-dive into more technical aspects such as planning regulations, housing policies, development regulations, etc. Also, I’m convinced that the history of a place (directly) influences its housing market dynamics, so I’m constantly exploring that aspect in all my projects.
Q: Do you have any advice for current planning students interested in affordable housing development?
Garg: Go for it!! For those starting out, I’m going to repeat the advice that my mentor gave me when I was finishing up grad school, “Look for a position that gives you access to as many as different aspects of housing as possible.” Looking back, I feel that my first role out of Cornell gave me just that, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that advice. Because there are so many facets to the affordable housing challenge, you can then constantly evolve and choose to focus on different aspects as you progress in your career.
Q: If you were able to return to Cornell to take one more course, what kind of class would you enroll in?
Garg: A class on negotiation! I remember John Forester talking about the importance of negotiation in his Introduction to Planning class and I wish I’d paid more attention to this particular point. More than any “hard” skill set, it’s the ability to communicate effectively with people on both sides of the table that enables you to have real impact.