The Course finds relevance in exposing the students to the emerging paradigm in urban development that places core focus on sustainability where interfaces get created between the economic, environmental and equity-based dimensions of sustainable urban growth and development. The wider arena provided by the supporting curriculum finds synergy with the course in that understanding of public policy, research based participatory planning, social, economic and environmental considerations of sustainable development and issues of ethics, social justice and inclusivity all find a space in the narratives and practices that will define the course content. The overriding rationale for the course is reflected in the realization that a new understanding and treatment of the ‘urban’ is critical to ensuring the sustainability of human growth as cities provide the battlegrounds for our fight against challenges such as climate change that pose an existential threat to humankind. The urban construct provides a rich space for the academic and professional realm that the students can explore and their knowledge base needs to encompass the face of the future cities.
