Academic collaboration between
Sai University and University of Toronto, Canada
In January 2023, Sai University students will join University of Toronto students for a 3-month course on 'Asian Cities' offered at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.
Academic Collaboration between Sai University and University of Toronto, Canada
In January 2023, Sai University students will join University of Toronto students for a 3-month course on 'Asian Cities' offered at University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.
The “Asian Cities” course is offered at University of Toronto as part of the Contemporary Asian Studies program under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Toronto. It is an initiative of the ‘Global Classroom’ project whereby University of Toronto students will attend the course in person at the Munk School in Toronto and Sai University students will join the cohort online to share ideas and engage with fellow participants.
This introductory course to cities for University of Toronto students in undergraduate programs in Asian studies provides an in-depth understanding of the geography and political economy of the contemporary Asian urban mega region. It will highlight key intellectual contributions on this subject and will give students a strong conceptual and methodological grounding. Major influences from intellectual disciplines of planning, geography, political science, social anthropology and economics on urban Asia will be summarized.
Later, the influence of multilateral organizations like the World Bank and UN Habitat to policies will be presented and broader level policy shifts will be identified in the context of economic globalization. This will be followed by case studies on major Asian mega regions (in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) and some of their experiences with planning new towns, managing informality, building new infrastructures, flows of rural migrants, management of environmental pressures, water and sanitation issues will come in for special focus. Both ethnographic and non-ethnographic material will be presented as part of these case studies.
The primary instructor for the course will be Dr. Bharat Punjabi, who is a Lecturer at the Asian Institute at Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. Guest lectures on the subject of urban climate change by renowned experts are planned for the latter half of the course. From Sai University, Prof. Subba Rao and Prof. Abhishek Chakravarty are scheduled for guest lectures for the course.
Sai students who enroll in this program will receive access to the University of Toronto library to download reading materials. Students will be awarded a Certificate of Participation by the University of Toronto.
For further details, or on enrolling procedure please contact Prof. Abhishek Chakravarty at abhishek.c@saiuniversity.edu.in
Highlights
Live online course on 'Asian Cities' offered by the University of Toronto
Students will receive access to the library of the University of Toronto
Students will be awarded a Certificate of Participation by the University of Toronto