Manual / Guide
Heritage and Recovery: Lessons from the Gorkha Earthquake
Arora V, Searson L & Shrestha P (2025) Heritage and Recovery: Lessons from the Gorkha Earthquake. Heritage and Recovery: Lessons from the Gorkha Earthquake 工口影院.
About me
I teach undergraduate and post-graduate courses in heritage at 工口影院. My doctoral work at Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University examines post-disaster reconstruction of built heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. I have over a decade of professional experience in India, where I specialised in areas of planning and policy for disaster risk reduction of heritage sites, conservation and adaptive reuse of built heritage, and urban regeneration.
I am currently exploring temporalities of disasters, longer trajectories of recovery and the role of climate change in producing specific kinds of heritage and memory.
I am available to supervise PhDs exploring the following themes: heritage and disasters; built heritage practices; South Asian heritage; urban heritage and governance; heritage from the margins; reconstruction and recovery; heritage and resilience; heritage and crises.
heritage, disasters, South Asia, urban regeneration, globalisation, post-colonial theory, climate change, visual analysis, generative AI
Award
BNAC PhD Dissertation Prize 2023
Event / Presentation
Co-Chair (Resilience), ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium, 2023
Co-chair for the Resilience Theme for the ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium on 'Heritage Changes'
Heritage and Recovery: A Decade of Learning from the Gorkha Earthquake
Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme in partnership with the 工口影院 and Social Science Baha, organised an international conference held from 2 to 4 April 2025, in Lalitpur, Nepal.
Other Academic Activities
Assistant Editor for Landscape Research
Professional membership
Association of Critical Heritage Studies
British Nepal Academic Council
Research projects (1)
“Making Do”: Strategies and Tactics for Thermal Comfort in Traditional Houses in Stirling
PI: Dr Vanicka Arora
Funded by: Sustainable Households (Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods)
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Outputs (19)
Working Paper
Attention is All You Want: Machinic Gaze and the Anthropocene
Magee L & Arora V (2024) Attention is All You Want: Machinic Gaze and the Anthropocene. arXiv:2405.09734. arxiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.09734
Article
(Re)framing built heritage through the machinic gaze
Arora V, Magee L & Munn L (2024) (Re)framing built heritage through the machinic gaze. Journal of Social Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1177/14696053241237949
Article
Structured like a language model: Analysing AI as an automated subject
Magee L, Arora V & Munn L (2023) Structured like a language model: Analysing AI as an automated subject. Big Data and Society, 10 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231210273
Working Paper
Reframing Heritage through the Machinic Gaze
Arora V, Magee L & Munn L (2023) Reframing Heritage through the Machinic Gaze. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.04628
Book Chapter
The Politics of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Heritage
Arora V (2023) The Politics of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Heritage [Reconstruction as recovery:The politics behind why heritage is funded internationally, nationally, and locally]. In: Jigyasu R & Chmutina K (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Cultural Heritage and Disaster Risk Management. 1 ed. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Article
Truth machines: synthesizing veracity in AI language models
Munn L, Magee L & Arora V (2023) Truth machines: synthesizing veracity in AI language models. AI & SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01756-4
Article
Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction
Arora V (2023) Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction. Change Over Time.
Article
Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction
Arora V & Murthy M (2023) Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction. Change Over Time, 12 (1), pp. 34-51. https://doi.org/10.1353/cot.2023.a927228
Working Paper
Truth Machines: Synthesizing Veracity in AI Language Models
Munn L, Magee L & Arora V (2023) Truth Machines: Synthesizing Veracity in AI Language Models. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.12066
Book Chapter
Reconstructing Memory and Desire in Bhaktapur, Nepal
Arora V (2022) Reconstructing Memory and Desire in Bhaktapur, Nepal. In: "Invisible Cities" and the Urban Imagination. Literary Urban Studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13048-9_16
Working Paper
Structured Like a Language Model: Analysing AI as an Automated Subject
Magee L, Arora V & Munn L (2022) Structured Like a Language Model: Analysing AI as an Automated Subject. arXivLabs. https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05058v1
Article
Arora V (2022) Reconstruction of heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal: examining tensions and negotiations between the "local" and the "global". Disaster Prevention and Managemen, 31 (1), pp. 41-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-03-2021-0093
Project Report
Mellick Lopes A, Arora V, Healy S, Power E, Armstrong H, Crabtree L, Gibson K & Tonkinwise C (2020) Cooling common spaces in densifying urban environments: A review of best practice and guide for Western Sydney renewal. Landcom. Sydney, Australia. https://apo.org.au/node/311804
Website Content
(Re)constructing heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal
Arora V (2020) (Re)constructing heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Issues [Online] 27.07.2020. https://issues-journal.org/2020/07/27/reconstructing-heritage-in-bhaktapur-nepal/
Newspaper Article
Five years on from the earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal, heritage-led recovery is uniting community
Arora V (2020) Five years on from the earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal, heritage-led recovery is uniting community. The Conversation. 24.04.2020.
Edited Book
Gandhi Bhawan: Documenting and Conserving Modern Heritage of India
(2019) Gandhi Bhawan: Documenting and Conserving Modern Heritage of India. India: Mapin Publishing Ltd. https://www.mapinpub.com/products/gandhi-bhawan?variant=43296154747094
Conference Paper (published)
Arora V & Murthy M (2016) Re‐discovering Uttarkhand’s Cultural Identity: Issues for consideration during post‐disaster reconstruction. In: Johnson C & Conference Scientific Committee (eds.) Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts. Conference Proceedings. 2015 international i-Rec conference Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts, London, 06.07.2015-08.07.2015. L’Observatoire universitaire de la vulnérabilité and la reconstruction durable (?uvre Durable), funded by Fonds de recherche du Québec, Société et culture (FQRSC), Canada. http://www.grif.umontreal.ca/i-rec/i-Rec2015/conferenceIREC2015papers.htm
Authored Book
Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage in Urban Areas: A Training Guide
Arora V & Jigyasu R (2013) Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage in Urban Areas: A Training Guide. Kyoto: Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University (RitsDMUCH), Kyoto, Japan.
Teaching
I design, coordinate, and teach across the MSc in Heritage programme, including the introductory core module 'Heritage: Critical Perspectives,' and the recently introduced advanced option module 'Heritage, Risk and Resilience: Managing Change in the Anthropocene'. I also coordinate and teach on our 'Heritage Placement' option module which runs over summer. My teaching focuses on the broader politics of heritage, linking critical heritage studies to professional practice, global and local governance and institutions of heritage, postcolonial and anticolonial methods and approaches to heritage and non-Anglocentric heritage management.
I also teach across the History and Heritage degree programme and Heritage and Tourism programme, with a focus on employability, heritage interpretation, conservation practice and built heritage.
I supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in heritage, focusing on Asian heritage, built heritage, place-based heritage practice, digital heritage, and the intersection of heritage and media.