TRAVEL STUDY COURSES (EXAMPLES)

Cities for the 21st Century– International Honors Program, Full Semester

30 students; orientation in NYC followed by a month each in Mumbai; Johannesburg/Cape Town; and Rio de Janeiro/Curitiba. Student report-outs in DC to Smithsonian, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and HUD.

Site visits and meetings with Innovators in policy, planning and practice for inclusive sustainable cities. Free of charge. Included selected young organizers from Toronto, Mexico City, Copenhagen, Rome, Berlin, Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, Seoul, New Orleans, London, Barcelona/Madrid and NYC.

TRAINING AND CAPACITY-BUILDING:

We offer training and capacity-building for decision-makers in companies, governments, international agencies and civil society on global urbanization and informality; creating workable partnerships among mutually distrustful groups (finding common ground for mutual benefit); and the asset-based approach of Appreciative Inquiry.

We also share our 30+ years of experience on building a global network of urban innovators and creating a self-reflective learning community to share ideas and tried-and-tested experiences.

International Agencies we have worked with include:
• World Bank Institute: Development of an e-course on slum upgrading and prevention
• City Managers and Mayors, Toronto Training: How to deal with urban poverty
• UNDP Global Technical Assistance Unit: Training for national and local-level urban planners and decision-makers.
• SEDESOL, Mexican Ministry of Housing and Urban Development: Alternatives for low income housing, slum upgrading, and poverty reduction
• USIA United States Information Agency: Lecture Series: Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, and Rio de Janeiro, keynote for conference on “Sustainable Development and Quality of Life in Cities.
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID RHUDO): Training for Urban Ministers on Housing and the Informal Sector: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Cali, Colombia

Non-Profit Organizations include:
• Google Foundation, “Population Mobility: Immigration and Urbanization,” Global Development Course, Mountain View, CA.
• South African Cities Network – Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban: “Innovations without Borders: Lessons Learned from global experience over 25 years”
• Livre Pensar Social, (Popular Leaders from Rio’s Poor Communities), “The Research, Learning, Action Connection,” Caixa Economica and City of God Leadership Forum.
• Fundação João Pinheiro with WBI: “Poverty, Inequality and Local Government.” Training for urban mayors, managers, planners and practitioners, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• School of Public Policy, (EPE), Rio de Janeiro. Intensive course for senior policy-makers, scholars, activists and professors.

Courses by Prof. Perlman at Universities include:

1. University of California, Berkeley
Global Migration and Urbanization; Comparative Urban Policies and Planning; Urban Social Movements and Citizen Participation; Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods.

Utopias and Intentional Communities; Grassroots Organizing and Government Response; Politics and Society in Latin America; Culture and Society in Brazil; Urban Innovation and Leadership

Mega-Cities and Our Global Future; Innovative Technologies for Urban Sustainability; How to View the City; Comparative Urbanization; Issues in Metropolitan Planning

Urban Informality; Environmental Justice in Cities; Evaluation Methods; Marginalization and Social Inclusion; neighborhood workshops