This interdisciplinary project-format course focuses on the issues of urban redevelopment, including site and market analysis, land use planning, urban design, real estate finance, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, architectural design, and healthy sustainable communities. Chandigarh, which is Northeast of Delhi, in Punjab, India, is an iconic city that was planned from the ground up, so it is of particular interest to planning students. Designed by Le Corbusier, it is of keen interest to many architects, the history of the place and its development would engage preservation students, and the real estate development, expansion, and now reinvention of some of the earliest portions of the city is an ideal project for real estate students.
While abroad, students will work in multidisciplinary teams, along with students from a local university, to analyze the urban fabric of a selected study area, with each group proposing a solution addressing the historic fabric and the current social and economic environment. Each group will use urban design guidelines and their discipline’s expertise to design a vision for redevelopment, plus a market analysis and financing proposal to support any infill or other real estate development, as well as any modifications to existing land use regulations or master plans to address the city's current and future needs.
There will be a mandatory on-campus orientation during the fall term, as well as reading assignments to be completed prior to arrival in India. Students who wish to arrive earlier than the program may elect to tour (in advance of the program start date) the Taj Mahal, Jaipur, a tiger preserve, the tea plantations of South India, Mumbai, or New Delhi, among many tourist attractions of the continent.