APIL KC
PhD Candidate
Urban and Regional Planning
University of Michigan
About
Apil is a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Working with Professor Larissa Larsen, he studies urban resilience, disaster governance, and equitable recovery. He is also affiliated with the Advancing Infrastructure through Data and Design (AIDD) Lab, led by Professor Sabine Loos, where he contributes to interdisciplinary research connecting disasters, infrastructure, and social inclusion.
With expertise in post-disaster housing recovery, Apil examines how financial assistance, technical support, and institutional arrangements shape recovery outcomes, particularly for marginalized communities. Using ethnographic and mixed-method research, he investigates the roles of governments, nongovernmental organizations, and communities in recovery planning and implementation.
His work spans household recovery following Nepal's 2015 earthquake, locally responsive disaster governance, resilience and inclusion, and community responses to recurring floods in Chitwan, Nepal. Through this research, Apil seeks to advance recovery approaches that not only rebuild physical structures but also restore livelihoods, autonomy, and long-term resilience.
Contact & Links
Recent Publication
Rethinking housing recovery policy evaluation through assessing satisfaction View publicationFounded VIVA-D
Apil founded VIVA-D (Virtual Imagery and Video Archive for Disasters), an open-source platform for collecting and preserving geotagged photos and videos from disasters. He started it in response to recent floods and landslides in Nepal, where valuable visual evidence is scattered across social media and may eventually disappear.