Through this project we seek to explore perspectives of urbanism from cities of India’s North East and the crucial role higher education can play in strengthening capacities to address urban challenges with the aim to create inclusive and sustainable urban futures. We will pursue an exploratory study based on dialogue to co-create perspectives and understandings of a sustainable urban future specific to the ecologically sensitive hill cities of the North East. The study is based on three capital urban centers – Gangtok, Shillong and Aizawl, focussing on the following three aspects within the broad umbrella of sustainable urbanization: a) the urban question of India’s North East integrated with SDG-11, b) higher education and capacity building in the context of India’s North East and c) alternative pathways of capacity building and knowledge creation. We will carry out interactive webinars, and conduct surveys and interviews among groups from universities, state capacity building institutes and local civil societies to create a space of dialogue, potentially including community members and their inputs in developing perspectives of sustainable urbanism. Creative research outcomes will include the production of intelligible action research in the form of case materials based on local contexts.
Key Words: Higher education for sustainable urbanization, Urbanism of cities of India’s North East, Alternative pathways of urbanism, Hill cities and sustainable urbanization, Capacity building for sustainable urbanization
Key Themes:
Higher Education, Urbanization
Project Site:
Gangtok, Sikkim; Shillong, Meghalaya; Aizawl, Mizoram.
Co-Investigator:
Evy Mehzabeen
