1Research for safer, cleaner cities
UPES researchers work on the problems Himalayan towns and cities face: floods and landslides, polluted rivers, waste, traffic and the edges where people and wildlife meet.
Impact
UPES research tackles the real problems of Himalayan towns and cities, from landslide warnings to cleaner rivers, smarter waste and better public transport.
512sustainable cities research publications
11,126citations to these papers
21.7citations per paper
3rdlargest SDG area in UPES's intellectual property
- An IoT early-warning system tracks rain, soil, river levels and slope movement to warn communities of floods and landslides.
- UPES has studied Dehradun's air quality and public transport and advised on the city's solid waste management.
- A study designed an autonomous electric public transport system for Dehradun to cut congestion and emissions.
What the research covers
Number of papers on each theme (a paper can appear under more than one).
| Theme | Papers |
|---|---|
| Urban planning and land use | 200 |
| Transport, mobility and electric vehicles | 155 |
| Smart cities, IoT and sensing | 149 |
| Waste management and circular cities | 108 |
| Disasters, climate risk and resilience | 103 |
| Buildings, construction and energy efficiency | 85 |
| Air quality and urban pollution | 63 |
| Culture, heritage and tourism | 38 |
Most cited work
- A Review on Autonomous Vehicles: Progress, Methods and Challenges[5] (Electronics (Switzerland), 2022), cited 533 times.
- An overview of iot sensor data processing, fusion, and analysis techniques[6] (Sensors (Switzerland), 2020), cited 421 times.
- IoT based smart parking system[7] (2016 International Conference on Internet of Things and Applications, IOTA 2016, 2016), cited 404 times.
- Perspective review on Municipal Solid Waste-to-energy route: Characteristics, management strategy, and role in circular economy[8] (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2022), cited 305 times.
- Agro-waste to sustainable energy: A green strategy of converting agricultural waste to nano-enabled energy applications[9] (Science of the Total Environment, 2023), cited 262 times.
The full list of publications, with links, is in the annexure.
Research highlights
- Early warning in the mountains. A 2025 UPES study designed an IoT system that tracks rainfall, soil moisture, ground vibration, river levels and slope movement, uses machine learning to spot danger, and warns communities and officials of flash floods and landslides by SMS, app, siren and dashboard.
- Rivers and health in Dehradun's slums. A current project measures water quality and microplastic pollution in slum communities along Dehradun's urban rivers, with the health risks they create and ways to treat and clean the water.
- Smarter urban waste. Researchers from the Sustainability Cluster and School of Computer Science reviewed how AI, smart bins, sensors, robotic sorting, drones and prediction models can make city waste collection cleaner and more efficient (2026).
- Public transport for Dehradun. A 2025 study designed an autonomous public transport system for Dehradun using electric trackless trams, sensors and AI to cut congestion and emissions.
- Research for city policy. The Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainability Studies researches urban transport, efficient buildings and environmental policy with government and industry. UPES has studied Dehradun's air quality and public transport, advised on the city's solid waste management, contributed research on rural solar micro-grids to a UNDP clean-energy initiative, and supported Government of India research on managing leopard populations near human settlements.
Patents and intellectual property
UPES holds 2,314+ intellectual property rights, including 813 patents (139 granted), 943 designs and 558 copyrights (December 2025). Mapped against the Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainable Cities and Communities is the third-largest area of the portfolio, after Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and Affordable and Clean Energy.
Links and sources
- UPES research projectshttps://www.upes.ac.in/research/projects
- UPES R&D Newsletter, July–December 2025https://upeswebsitecdn-prod-hphqfhc0b8h2ffhf.a02.azurefd.net/drupal-data/2026-05/UPES%20R%26D%20News%20Letter%20July-Dec%202025.pdf
- UPES and SDG 7: research centreshttps://www.upes.ac.in/sustainable-development-goals/07
- How UPES is contributing to the SDGshttps://www.upes.ac.in/blog/liberal-studies/how-upes-is-contributing-to-sdgs
- A Review on Autonomous Vehicles: Progress, Methods and Challengeshttps://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11142162
- An overview of iot sensor data processing, fusion, and analysis techniqueshttps://doi.org/10.3390/s20216076
- IoT based smart parking systemhttps://doi.org/10.1109/IOTA.2016.7562735
- Perspective review on Municipal Solid Waste-to-energy route: Characteristics, management strategy, and role in circular economyhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131897
- Agro-waste to sustainable energy: A green strategy of converting agricultural waste to nano-enabled energy applicationshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162667