WHO WE ARE
(SOCB) School Of Collectively Building in Vienna, Austria.
As the world faces a critical climate crisis, the need for collective action has never been more urgent. Together, we must act, react, and reflect to forge a sustainable path forward. “Collectively” means uniting our efforts—whether in researching, teaching, designing, discussing, or developing ideas that shape both the present and future.
Our vision and mission are centered on educating, empowering, and building collectively, guided by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
We accomplish this by providing education to international students, professionals, and communities through a diverse array of training programs, courses, seminars, and conferences. These cover a wide range of topics, including design, architecture, urbanism, landscape, materials, environmental studies, and policy-making.
Our platform serves as a global hub for the exchange of groundbreaking ideas, bringing together brilliant minds from various disciplines. We invite designers, architects, engineers, planners, and specialists to share their expertise, fostering an environment where innovative ideas can flourish. Our collaborative efforts extend to partnerships with institutions, schools, universities, companies, NGOs, and other organizations.
Through our educational courses, research, seminars, workshops and conferences, further research and course work will be exhibited to people and published in books, journals, proceedings and academic articles. We aim to bridge the gaps between students, institutions, companies, and communities, creating a unified front against the climate crisis.
SOCB CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
SOCB is International and Interdisciplinary comes from various countries, culture, disciplines and professionals in Art, Design, Architecture, Urbanism, Landscape, Heritage, History, Theory, Construction, Digital Conservation, Robotics, Mapping, Collective Learning, Disaster studies, GIS, Master Planning and more.
DIRECTOR: The founder of SOCB is Santosh Kumar Ketham, he has been external faculty, critic, and lecturer at some of the top design schools and universities. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed publications and editor for Journal Socio-Cultural Theory, special issue publication (SIP) in 2025. He has been featured on prominent Television programs, including ORF, 3Sat, Deutsche Welle-DW’s documentary ‘Climate Change – Living on the Water’. He also served as a reviewer, session chair for international conferences in London, New York, Prague, Canada, China and Spain. His work, talks are inspiring, empowering people and reforming neglected communities with Collectively Building.
INTERNATIONAL: The team serves an advisory role, leveraging the diverse skills, experience, and research expertise of a distinguished group of academics.
Prof. Moritz Elbert, is an RUFA faculty member at the Milan campus and a communication designer and independent exhibition maker. Trained in Italy, he graduated in Industrial Design and specialized in museography at the Politecnico di Milano, later focusing on contemporary art curation. He has led projects and collaborations with major cultural institutions across Europe. In Venice, he founded the sustainable mobility startup eneu and has been teaching design and planning in Vienna and Milan since 2024.
Dr. Elham K. Hassani, earned her Ph.D. in Architecture and Construction (Research Field: Urban Morphology) in 2022 and a certificate of expertise in resilient urban regeneration in 2024 from Sapienza University of Rome, where she has co-taught courses and supervised graduate theses. She has held visiting positions at Lund University, Malmö University, and Tashkent University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
P.M Dieter Soerensen, is an experienced International Hospital & Healthcare Consultant with over 20 years of expertise in hospital construction projects. He provides master planning, project briefing, tenant requirements, concept and detailed design, environmental and social management, safety, infection control, hygiene management, and equipment advice to international clients and government ministries.
Dr. Varvara Toura, graduated from the School of Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds Master’s degrees in Architectural Engineering (AUTh) and Urban and Regional Planning (IUP, France). She earned her PhD in Urban Studies from EHESS (France). She works as a researcher and academic in France and Greece, teaching urban planning and urban and landscape design studios. Her research focuses on urban transformations, urban policies, and citizen engagement in architecture and urban design.
Ar. Sonali Dahotre, M.Arch, Landscape Architecture from CEPT University, visiting faculty at various design schools, independent researcher, founder of Sparrow Landscape Initiative – an ecology based landscape design practice, Pune, India.
Ar. Rasha Sukkarieh, M.Arch, expert in Advanced Design & Digital Fabrication, Architect, Educator and Independent Researcher, The Impact Lab Beirut, Lebanon.
Dr. Aurelie De Smet, completed her PhD in Architecture from KU Leuven. She is an expert in spatial planning, bottom-up urban initiatives, (landscape) architecture, participatory action research and cross-sectoral collective learning and knowledge exchange. She works as a Service-learning facilitator at KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Belgium. (Former SOCB Team)
Ar. Priya Chavan, M.Tech. expert in Architecture, Housing, and Urban Planning, PhD Scholar in Disaster Studies and Urban Affairs, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India. (Former SOCB Team)
Dr. Panagiotis Papageorgiou, is a Senior Lecturer at the International College Portsmouth, and an Early Career Researcher at the University of Portsmouth. His research lies at the intersection of digital preservation and virtual heritage. Dr Papageorgiou follows a breadth of enquiry around the preservation of, and universal access to, our virtual heritage. (Former SOCB Team)
REVIEWERS
International academic professional, scholars and experts from around the world. If you wish to become reviewer at SOCB. click here
Dr. Kanika Bansal, Professor and Dean – Academic Affairs & M. Planning with the Chitkara School of Planning & Architecture (CSPA), Chitkara University, Punjab, India.
Dr. Ahmed Bakry, Lecturer at Kassel University, Faculty of Architecture, Urban and Landscape Planning Institute for Urban Development Department of Economics of Urban and Regional Development.
Dr Varvara Toura, Completed PhD in urban studies EHESS/ Géographie-Cités, Paris, France (geography/urban planning, sociology, political science, environmental sciences, citizen science) Greece.
Dr. Anwar Hamrouni holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and Urbanism from Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France, as well as an M.Sc. in Urbanism, Innovation, and Territory from the same institution.
Dr. Tanaya Verma, 25 years experience in the field of Architecture and Design. Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at K R Mangalam University, Gurgaon.
RESEARCH + TEACHING
SOCB’s teaching courses foster a vibrant, diverse community rooted in collaboration and innovation. Here, students are immersed in the most cutting-edge design approaches, guided by a distinguished international faculty at the forefront of the field. With a mission to advance research and pioneering design practices, SOCB focuses on the intersection of natural and built environments, urbanization, and the urgent realities of a rapidly changing climate.
SOCB takes a leading role in shaping the future of urban planning and design education, equipping students to confront today’s most complex global challenges. The program empowers the next generation of leaders to develop transformative solutions that elevate and improve society. By uniquely integrating the disciplines of design and engineering, SOCB stands at the forefront of addressing the world’s most critical issues with creativity, expertise, and vision.
Santosh Kumar Ketham, Moritz Elbert, Rasha Sukkarieh, Priya Chavan, Sonali Dahotre, Panagiotis Papageorgiou.
EDITORIAL
The editorial team at SOCB is a dynamic blend of academic and production editors, working in close collaboration with a distinguished group of guest editors who contribute to both journal and book publications on a case-by-case basis. This exceptional team is further strengthened by an extensive network of esteemed international reviewers, ensuring a diverse, high-quality, and impactful publication process. Together, they drive SOCB’s commitment to academic excellence and global reach.
Editors: Moritz Elbert, Dipl. Des., PhD Researcher, Rasha Sukkarieh, M.Arch. B.Arch. PhD Researcher, Sonali Dahotre, M.Arch (Landscape). B.Arch, Priya Chavan, M.Tech. B.Arch. PhD Researcher, Panagiotis Papageorgiou Dr., Santosh Kumar Ketham, MSc (Urban Strategies). B.Arch (Landscape). Dipl. Arch. PhD Researcher.
ADMIN + SUPPORT
SOCB has International, interdisciplinary administration and support team.
Website Design: Mamatha Vani, Masters in Computer engineering, India.
Volunteers: Verena Spissak, Scheima Kchaou
SOCB MEMBERSHIP
SOCB Membership is open to Students, Organisations, NGO’s, Universities and Companies. Registered members receive 20% discount on courses, research, conferences calls and events. click here
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