The CityLabs Conversation series is an attempt to understand our cities better from the lens of allied disciplines. In this conversation that Prof. Pratyush Shankar (Dean, School of Environmental Design and Architecture, Navrachana University, Vadodara) had with Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot (Senior Researcher, Sciences Po, Paris), a range of topics such as, different research traditions in urban studies, ghettoisation in India cities, the question of public places or the role of Sufism in creating a release (a neutral space) in an Indian city that is essentially a "mosaic", are discussed at length.

Christophe Jaffrelot is a CERI-CNRS Senior Research Fellow who teaches at Sciences Po in three different schools. He was elected president of the French Association of Political Science (AFSP) in July 2020.

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He is the senior editor of a CERI- Sciences Po book series, Comparative Politics and International Studies, published by Hurst (London) and Oxford University Press (new York). He has been the editor-in-chief of Critique Internationale (1998-2003) and then his director (2003-2008).

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His current research deals with the sociology of the Indian political personnel (including the Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assemblies), the Dargahs of Ajmer, the India-Pakistan relations, the political history of Gujarat (from the point of view of relations between politicians and businessmen in particular) and populist politics.

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Few of his publications include India's First Dictatorship. The Emergency, 1975-77, Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India, Hindu Nationalism: A reader; Religion, Caste and Politics in India and more. He is a regular columnist for the Indian Express.