Global Learning in Action: U of T and Ashoka Students Travel to Pune for Urban Studies Course

In October 2024, Professors Aditi Mehta and David Roberts travelled to Mumbai and Pune, India, with 18 undergraduate students from the University of Toronto and Ashoka University as part of the Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Project (MUCP) course. MUCP is a partnership between the Urban Studies Program and the School of Cities, open to all U of T undergraduate students in their final year of study. 

Over the course of the academic year, interdisciplinary teams work to research and design an urban intervention to meet the needs of their community partner. This year, with support from the U of T India Foundation, MUCP partnered with two organizations in Pune, India including SWaCH and RannNiti to offer three community-engaged student projects. Each project team consisted of three U of T students and three Ashoka students.

SWaCH is India’s first waste-picker cooperative and students are designing a digital guide book that presents the various operational and human aspects of the decentralized waste management systems that waste pickers have built in collaboration with the city.

RannNiti is a non-profit resident engagement and policy consultancy. Students are collaborating with RannNNiti on two projects: 1) a human rights and resource development guide book for the city’s transgender population and 2) a site plan and recommendations for how to redevelop urban space under flyovers for community use.