Urbanism in North India: Pasts, Presents, Futures
India’s urban zones are experiencing tremendous growth and are increasingly leading India—and the world—into the future. Through this LITW program, students will experience and creatively contemplate North India’s urban form and realities, and also think critically—and from a historically grounded, human-centered, and policy-informed perspective—about the challenges and opportunities of urban living in North India. Towards deepening their understanding, Phillips Academy travelers will meet with and learn from policymakers, scholars, ecologists, students, among other practitioners and residents in these three unique cities:
- Delhi, the sprawling capital where ancient histories and contemporary urban life coexist;
- Chandigarh, the planned modernist utopian city; and
- Shimla, a bustling city in the clouds of the Himalaya.
All the while, students will experiment with and learn about local forms of craft, develop (and use) preliminary Hindi proficiency, learn how to cook (and eat!) North Indian cuisine, and experience remarkable green spaces and biodiversity. When students walk away from this program, they will not just have developed an understanding of these Indian cities and about North Indian culture; they will return home with better questions about every city they inhabit.
Snapshot
Experience three remarkably different and rapidly changing north Indian cities—New Delhi, Chandigarh, and Shimla—and explore enduring questions about how culture, layered histories, and modern developments shape the urban spaces we all inhabit both in India and beyond.
Program Dates: March 6-19, 2027
Themes: Architecture and urbanism; cultural immersion; history; policymaking and governance; philosophy.
Program Leaders: Mr. Colin Phelan and Dr. Marissa Schwalm
Maximum Cost: $6,800