Born in America in 1942, Christopher Charles Benninger has lived and worked in India for the past thirty-three years, leading some to label this as a "self imposed exile." He studied City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Architecture at Harvard University under Joseph Luis Sert, where he was later a Professor of Architecture. A Fulbright Fellowship brought him to Ahmedabad, India in 1968, and he returned as a Ford Foundation Advisor to found the School of Urban Planning there in 1971. Benninger often quotes Gandhiji's directive,"Live in a village and plan for the world." He founded the Centre for Development Studies in Pune, India (1976) involving him in rural development and poverty alleviation work. He has prepared plans for the Governments of Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. He has designed institutions, residential schools, business and luxury hotels, corporate headquarters and large scale housing projects.

Benninger was selected for the Designer of the Year Award (1999), and for the American Institute of Architects Award (2000) for his design of the Mahindra United World College of India. He maintains studios in Pune, India and in Thimphu, Bhutan, where he prepared the new capital plan, and is presently designing the capital complex. He has advised the World Bank, UNO and Asian Development Bank on development projects in Asia and Africa. He is a distinguished architect, planner, institution builder and writer. His works have been published widely in international and national books and magazines. He is a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects and of the Institute of Town Planners, India. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the International Society for City and Regional Planning, the World Society for Ekistics and the American Planning Association. He is registered with the Council of Architects