The following urban challenges have been identified by community organizations throughout Canada, India, and St. Kitts and submitted for an MUCP or IMUCP partnership.
Please note the travel dates and requirements for the international projects before applying for these.
MUCP
Amedev Property Group uses a real estate development lens, we actively search for untapped opportunities in the GTA, allowing us to create projects that seem prescient, have meaningful impact and sustain long term value. For this project, they are partnering with Montgomery Sisam Architects on a project focused on increasing investment in supportive housing in the GTA.
Students will research what is needed in terms of policy, planning, and financial shifts required to enable greater private sector involvement in supportive housing—particularly around land acquisition and construction. The study would focus on a tripartite partnership model: private developers responsible for building and maintaining the housing; non-profit organizations delivering on-site services and care; and government actors providing the necessary policy and funding support. By identifying current barriers—such as zoning constraints, funding gaps, and risk allocation—and proposing actionable solutions, the project could help unlock scalable, cross-sector approaches to addressing homelessness and housing insecurity. This work would offer a valuable framework for aligning public interest goals with private sector capacity and ultimately contribute to more inclusive and sustainable city-building.
Amedev Property Group uses a real estate development lens, we actively search for untapped opportunities in the GTA, allowing us to create projects that seem prescient, have meaningful impact and sustain long term value.
For this project, Amdev has partnered with key stakeholders in the City of Brampton on a project on bringing increased vibrancy to Downtown Brampton. Students will examine the urbanization trajectory of Downtown Brampton within the context of the Greater Toronto Area’s evolving regional metropolis. As a city historically shaped by greenfield development and low-density suburban growth, Brampton is now at a critical inflection point. Students will research when and how suburban downtowns like Brampton’s can begin to meaningfully transition into vibrant, high-density urban centres. What triggers this shift—from a population primarily drawn by single detached homes to one that embraces high-rise living and a walkable downtown core? The study will explore the market, policy, cultural, and infrastructure factors that drive this evolution, as well as absorption trends and barriers to intensification. Are there examples in other municipalities and regional centres of this tipping point? This work would help guide private sector investment strategies in shaping Brampton’s urban future.
The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) are Canada’s leading city building not-for-profit. It is the national platform that houses the best in Canadian city building — where policymakers, urban professionals, civic and business leaders, community activists and academics can learn, share and collaborate with one another from coast to coast to coast.
This project focuses on city-building in newly densified communities. There are many large-scale developments planned in the GTA, especially around higher order public transit stations. While these developments promise to deliver much-needed housing, the question remains as to the long-term quality of the neighbourhoods that are being created. A key issue is the degree to which these developments will provide the public and private amenities needed to complete the communities. A specific focus is the ground floor of mixed used buildings. In many cases fine-grained and flexible spaces, that are typical along many of Toronto’s main streets, are being forgone in favor of larger units that are suitable for a narrower class of tenant. The CUI student team will explore various solutions to this problem so that newly built tower communities can reach their full potential.
Mississauga is one of Canada’s top 10 largest cities and is home to over 780,000 people, as well as, Canada’s largest airport, and one of the most diverse populations in the country. Mississauga also has growing Urban Indigenous population living in Mississauga. The City of Mississauga is working to advance Reconciliation and meaningfully grow our relationships with Indigenous residents, Treaty partners and those who have traditional territory on the lands which make up the present-day city. The Indigenous Relations Office at the City carries a mandate to manage the relationships between Indigenous residents, Treaty and traditional territory partners and the City, as well as provide advice and guidance to the Mayor, Council and staff in our work.
Students will explore how jurisdictions outside of Ontario and Canada manage Indigenous relations from the lens of urban Indigenous people and reserve populations. In the Canadian constitution Indigenous people have protected rights, but they are collective rights and they are collectively held. This is difficult to reconcile when over 1 million of Indigenous people reside in urban centers across Canada. The City of Mississauga is interested in better understanding how global jurisdictions with high levels of diversity address this challenge, particularly when it comes to expressions of culture and of city issues.
Collective Futures is a planning, engagement, arts, & design collective co-creating thoughtful approaches to community building & planning cities for our shared futures. We collaborate on impactful, equity-centred, culturally-responsive initiatives in partnership with community, public, private, non-profit, & academic sector organizations to drive transformative change.
The students will co-design and work directly with the Collective Futures co-founder on an alternative models and governance strategy for the organization, with a focus on research & knowledge mobilization for their social & cultural infrastructure projects.
Students will research alternative and community-based governance models, including worker co-operatives, artist co-operatives, membership-based models, social finance models like community bonds, and housing CLTs for social & cultural workers and artists. Students can co-design collective values & principles and will have an opportunity to create strategic pathways (i.e., a simple project roadmap/plan) for delivering projects in their early stage over the next two years.
The Collective of Child Welfare Survivors (CCWS) is a Toronto-based, Black-led organization dedicated to supporting individuals who have experienced the child welfare system. Rooted in lived experience, CCWS works to amplify the voices of Child Welfare Survivors (CWS) while advocating for systems-level change through research, education, and community-led programming. Our work in city-building focuses on creating inclusive, equitable urban spaces by centering the needs, experiences, and expertise of historically marginalized populations—particularly Black youth and adults impacted by the child welfare system.
In Ontario, thousands of youth age out of the child welfare system each year, often without the resources, support, or guidance needed to navigate adulthood safely and confidently. These transitions can lead to housing insecurity, mental health challenges, and limited access to education or employment—especially for Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and disabled youth who face additional systemic barriers. To address this urgent gap, we are proposing the creation of a comprehensive Aging Out Toolkit: a youth-designed, accessible, and culturally relevant resource that consolidates critical information on housing, income supports, post-secondary options, mental health, identity documentation, and legal rights. The toolkit will be co-created with youth with lived experience and supported by service providers across Ontario. It will not only empower youth to make informed decisions but also equip communities and frontline workers with a consistent, trauma-informed tool to better support them.
The Downtown Brampton BIA represents 350+ businesses and property owners in the historic heart of the City of Brampton. First formed in 1982, the BIA strengthens the economic health and livability of the neighbourhood through strategic investments in the public realm, exciting cultural programming, brand awareness and advocacy on behalf of members. We promote the commercial area as a vibrant business and shopping district.
The Provincial and Federal governments have recently announced signification funding to extend the Hazel McCallion LRT Line into Downtown Brampton via a new underground transit tunnel. This student capstone project will examine the impact of major transit projects in the GTA (Eglinton Crosstown, Finch Ave West, Scarborough Subway, Yonge Extension) and beyond on local businesses in the vicinity of construction zones.
The project will highlight best practices from other jurisdictions and make recommendations on how to best support small businesses throughout the construction process.
Founded in February 2001, the Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations Incorporated (FoNTRA) is a not for profit organization now comprised of over 30 residents’ associations, which collectively include more than 175,000 Toronto residents within their boundaries. FoNTRA believes that Toronto and Ontario can and should achieve better development. Its central issue is not whether Toronto will grow, but how. FoNTRA believes that sustainable urban regions are characterized by environmental balance, fiscal viability, infrastructure investment and social renewal.
Bayview Focus Area – Booming or Bust? In Bayview-Eglinton, the Bayview Focus Area density policy was revised, by the Province Ontario, to change the building height allowance in the area from 8 storeys to 20 to 35 storeys. Following this, development applications in the Bayview Focus Area have been received and mostly approved from 25 to 46 storeys. There has been little analysis of the impact on the community of increasing densities and building heights by fivefold or more and, in the larger context, little assessment of how density decisions under the current planning policy regime will support efficient, sustainable, and community-oriented development strategies.
Using data from the Bayview Focus Area and surrounding communities, the project team will be tasked with developing an intervention to support the responsible management of urban growth that enable new communities to be “complete” in our current context and pressures to increase density in the City of Toronto.
A post from PaddyD on Federation of North Toronto Residents' Associations provided by: https://fontra.com
DevCo, a newly incorporated, social-purpose real estate development corporation wholly owned by Habitat for Humanity Canada. DevCo was established to address the growing gap in Canada’s housing continuum by developing homes for moderate-income Canadians who are increasingly excluded from market-rate homeownership, yet do not qualify for traditional affordable housing
DevCo student project will involve support in developing a policy roadmap to advance attainable housing as a distinct and recognized category within Canadian housing policy and planning frameworks. While Canada has long-established tools for market and affordable housing, there is no coherent framework for supporting the delivery of housing aimed at moderate-income households—typically those in the 60th to 80th income percentiles—who are increasingly priced out of homeownership.
The student team will be asked to:
(i) Develop a clear definition and typology of “attainable housing” based on domestic and international precedents;
(ii) Analyze current municipal, provincial, and federal housing policies to identify gaps and constraints for attainable housing delivery;
(iii) Investigate the viability of policy and financial tools (e.g., land lease, shared equity, modular development, zoning incentives) to unlock this market;
(iv) Recommend advocacy strategies to position attainable housing as a new asset class worthy of regulatory and financial support;
(v) Identify how DevCo’s pilot projects could serve as test cases for policy experimentation.
The findings will inform both DevCo’s national strategy and its local partnerships with municipalities, CMHC, and other stakeholders.
Happy Mom Happy Children (HMHC) is a non-profit organization based in Regent Park, Toronto. Since its inception, HMHC has been committed to empowering mothers, children, and youth through programs that promote education, health, community engagement, and well-being.
This student project will help develop a Community Mapping and Impact Evaluation Toolkit that will help assess and visualize the social impact of Happy Mom Happy Children programs in Regent Park and surrounding neighborhoods.
Students will:
- Conduct community asset mapping
- Analyze their current program data to measure impact
- Develop easy-to-use tools and dashboards for program evaluation and decision-making
- Propose data-driven strategies to enhance community outreach and engagement
This project will strengthen the ability of Happy Mom Happy Children to scale their impact and advocate for sustainable support by clearly articulating how their programs contribute to inclusive urban development.
HousingNowTO is a pro-bono professional services collective that uses data, planning and architectural best practices to ensure that the City of Toronto maximizes the opportunities for creating new affordable-housing on surplus City-owned lands. They were founded in December 2018 to track-progress and advocate for improve-outcomes on the surplus lands identified by City Council.
The HousingNowTO MUCP student group is asked to reimagine a surplus land site in the City of Toronto by designing multiple options for affordable housing, that integrate social equity and climate and social justice. The 2025-26 project will consider the potential of a repeatable mass-timber model to build affordable housing in Green-P parking lots in Toronto. This work will Include a deep dive into the planning, zoning and financial viability of the project(s) using 2025-2026 data.
The decommissioning of the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) presents a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform a large-scale infrastructure into a community asset that promotes inclusive economies, sustainable mobility, local arts and culture, and healthy recreational spaces. In 2018, the City estimated the cost to demolish the SRT infrastructure at over $180M, which has most likely increased since then (currently not budgeted).
The Institute for Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods based at UTSC is playing an important role in coordinating engagement with Scarborough community leaders, organizations, businesses and students to develop a community based vision for the adaptive reuse and repurposing of this public asset. Through our engagement, the IIESL is interested in supporting the involvement of Scarborough community leaders to support the development of a community based vision and community oriented governance model to steer this vision forward in the future. While repurposing may take years to materialize, such processes will need to be developed in the near term. There is also potential for interim/meanwhile activations and animations in areas along the corridor.
The MUCP project would help research examples and case studies of public infrastructure reuse projects and propose recommendations for community oriented governance models and develop ideas for interim uses to animate sections along the corridor.
The Municipality of North Grenville is a rapidly urbanizing collection of rural communities in Eastern Ontario located just south of the nation’s capital. The global pandemic and the shifting realities of housing have created a surge of growth and development to the urban-serviced area formerly known as Kemptville. The innovative municipal staff and Council have tried to anticipate housing-related growth pressures and were one of only two Eastern Ontarian municipalities to received Housing Accelerator Funds from the federal government.
As part of their Housing Accelerator Fund strategy, North Grenville will be rolling out an Additional Residential Unit – or ARU Initiative
This student team will work to build a usable toolkit for other municipalities like theirs to enable them to undertake ARU initiatives in their own communities and learn from North Grenville’s processes, pivots, and practices both promising and with the potential for refinement. The project is conceptualized as a qualitative study that seeks to follow the participants in their ARU Initiative in order to develop insights into their motivations/decision-making processes, demographics, difficulties, and wins along the way. As the project rolled out in mid-February, they have already identified applicants to the initiative that appear keen to participate.
Revitalize West Queen West is group of grassroots, long-time residents of Parkdale/ west Queen West with multi-disciplinary backgrounds that have contributed to city-building in the potential revitalization area and beyond. Over the past few years our organization contact has developed over a hundred units of supportive housing locally.
Parkdale (west Queen West) was once a neighbourhood on the rise. Starting in 2012, a ban on new restaurants—meant to slow gentrification—ended up rolling back vitality altogether. Since then, global challenges have collided with a local policy of apathy leaving the retail corridor hollowed out. The Revitalize West Queen West folks are taking action and have raised $180,000 to date and they’re ready to start issuing seed loans to help rebuild Queen West from Dufferin to Roncesvalles.
Revitalize West Queen West’s goals are to:
- Help 8 – 12 entrepreneurs to open shops in year one
- Return of investor capital at the end of year three
- Match risk with return while charging no fees
The MUCP student goals will be to:
- Help with outreach to identify businesses
- Social media strategy and implementation
- Data collection and analysis
The Common Table is a homelessness outreach program run out of the Church of the Redeemer on Bloor Street. When we are living in an acute housing crisis, part of city building is keeping streets and public spaces safe and caring for the most vulnerable members of the community, which is our mission.
The students working with The Common Table partners will spearhead what falls under the umbrella of communications/outreach. They will help increase the community partner’s online presence to reach more people in need, more organization doing similar work, and more potential volunteers. Additionally, the student team will help with gathering data and conducting analysis to apply for grants to support this work.
*The students on this team will also be encouraged to work on-site with the community partner at the Common Table for an hour week, to fully understand the population, the issues the community partner faces, and the mission.
YSM is a local social service provider on a mission to break the cycle of long-term poverty in the lives of individuals and families. We are an innovative and solution-oriented social service provider, grounded in more than 125 years of experience working directly with vulnerable individuals and families in Toronto. Working with a group of cross sectoral leaders in Toronto (policy experts, developers, non profit leaders, etc.) that YSM has already assembled, this MUCP team will be asked to address how/where to realize the supply of deeply affordable housing in the GTA.
The students will be given a detailed report of supply needed, the number of new buildings needed (including unit numbers, build forms, etc.) and the number of existing buildings needing to be repurposed. They will be tasked with knowledge mobilization and data visualization of this existing research.
Augmenting the existing research, students will also be asked to consider a variety of funders and funding models that could address the actual cost to fulfil this supply need. Additionally, the students will research and develop a map out the various tables/networks/collectives etc. working to address the housing crisis. Who’s doing what, where, when, how: are there duplications? Are the gaps? Are there opportunities? They’ll provide an overview of “the lay of the land” and determine exactly where this group fits.
Students will have the opportunity to leverage these cross sectoral relationships represented in this working group.
The Centre of Learning and Development in Regent Park believes that the path to sustainable success lies in creating a strong culture of community engagement. Their programs and activities intentionally focus on building the capacity of individuals to effect change. Through this work, they encounter various forms of trauma – at the individual and community scale – and they embrace trauma-informed approaches to all of their initiatives. While trauma-informed approaches to civic-engagement often focused on ensuring that engagement practices work to minimize unintended consequences, avoid re-traumatization, and maximize benefits for communities heavily burdened by collective traumatic events and inequities, less work has focused on reducing or addressing vicarious trauma. The question they have is how to bring in equitable mental health practices within civic engagement and advocacy work? Many people in the social sector, nonprofits, and activists are struggling with vicarious trauma. What does trauma informed civic engagement mean and how it is done?
Toronto Community Benefits Network is a membership based organization with representation from community, labour and social enterprise. Collectively, we organize for equitable neighbourhood planning and development to ensure local communities voices and priorities are reflected in infrastructure and urban development projects
The Pearson Economic Zone represents 7% of Ontario’s GDP and an economic engine for the Toronto region. With current growth plans and future transit connections that have the potential to transform the region, we have questions on who benefits and at what cost, who is impacted and who may be left behind, if not done well. These are important questions and research for the TCBN as it connects to our work on equitable development, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.
This project will support TCBN’s understanding and analysis of the Pearson Economic Zone, its planned growth and to identify and mitigate negative impacts to local communities. The student team will work to identify and propose solutions and approaches, that if done well, can support the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of communities in the area from a community benefits lens.
IMUCP India
As part of the International Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Project (IMUCP), we will offer two collaborations with non-profit organizations in Mumbai, India. For these projects, University of Toronto students will work in remote teams over the course of the year with undergraduate Indian students from Ashoka University to produce final deliverables. The teams will be comprised of three U of T students and three Ashoka students (6 students per project team). Participating students will have the opportunity to travel to Mumbai, India during fall reading week to conduct fieldwork for their projects.
If selected to participate in IMUCP, students are required to enroll in an additional .5 course, which will take place on Zoom during class time when there is no lecture. The purpose of these Zoom sessions is to connect with Ashoka university students and learn about the Indian context as well as prepare for the site visit to Mumbai.
Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) is a non-profit working with the marginalized to empower them and help them access their rights. YUVA’s on-ground interventions are complemented with advocacy efforts and policy recommendations on a range of issues. YUVA’s work on Climate Justice centres the experiences of the urban poor to understand climate change impacts, losses, and resilience, shaping local adaptations and inclusive policy frameworks.
Given the vast scale and complexity of the policy space, global advocacy platforms remain distant and inaccessible to grassroots communities, especially from the Global South, limiting their understanding and meaningful participation. Furthermore, while international climate frameworks and national policies increasingly emphasize equity and resilience, there remains a significant gap in how these global ambitions are translated into inclusive, context-responsive climate strategies at the local level—particularly in integrating urban poor perspectives. Additionally, the global just transition framework misses urban perspective and impact on informal workers, who form the backbone of city economies and are among the most vulnerable to climate risks. Informal workers are central to urban sustainability in India yet remain marginalized in climate adaptation policies. As cities confront increasing climate risks, these workers face growing precarity due to extreme weather, displacement, and lack of formal recognition. Despite international frameworks advocating for inclusive just transitions, practical models that protect and empower informal workers are largely missing from local policy.
With an intent to simplify global advocacy for civil society in urban India and explore a just urban transition, this project focuses on the experiences of informal workers in Mumbai’s Ambojwadi community. This project will work to address the current limits of the global climate advocacy framework and just urban transition policy while also developing popular education materials on resilience and policy advocacy for workers in specific informal sectors currently experiencing the brunt of extreme weather.
The Raah Foundation is a grassroots organization working to improve the lives of marginalized indigenous communities through integrated development initiatives, with a strong focus on sustainable livelihoods, nutrition, and gender equity across India. This project will operate primarily in the Palghar district of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, an area marked by sharp contrasts between urban affluence and rural deprivation.
Despite being situated within a rapidly urbanizing corridor, Palghar’s indigenous communities — such as the Kathakari, Warlis, and Koli — face acute challenges in accessing adequate nutrition. Landlessness, low literacy levels, climate-induced water insecurity, and fragmented infrastructural support have compounded food insecurity in these regions. For women in particular, entrenched gender disparities further constrain nutritional access — where patriarchal norms dictate food distribution and sociocultural beliefs systematically deprioritize women’s health. The result is a stark pattern of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, especially iron and calcium, which remain unaddressed by existing frameworks and policies.
This project aims to critically examine nutrition access through a gendered lens, focusing on the lived realities of indigenous women in Palghar. Students will produce a research report outlining:
- The intersections between gender and nutrition access among indigenous communities in the rapidly urbanizing, climate-vulnerable Palghar district.
- Global nutritional frameworks and suggested adaptations to better align with the lived realities of indigenous communities in Palghar district.
Additionally, students will develop knowledge dissemination products for community stakeholders and policy actors with recommended practices from the adapted nutritional framework.
IMUCP St. Kitt’s
Beginning last year, we have a partnership with the Department of Urban Resilience and Development for St. Kitts – a small island in the Caribbean. Participating students will have the opportunity to travel to Basseterre, St. Kitts during winter reading week to conduct fieldwork for their project.
Downtown Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts, is a hub of historical, cultural, and economic significance. However, in recent years, the area has suffered from urban blight, with several abandoned, degraded, and unsafe properties negatively impacting the community’s quality of life and the city’s visual appeal. This project proposes a targeted effort to reclaim and repurpose such spaces, transforming them into safe, clean, and environmentally sustainable community assets that promote engagement, economic development, and social well-being.
The MUCP team will work with the St. Kitt’s Department of Urban Resilience and Development to:
- Identify and assess abandoned, unsafe, and underutilized properties in downtown Basseterre.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive revitalization plan for these properties.
- Promote environmental sustainability, public safety, and cleanliness.
- Foster community engagement and participation in the revitalization process.
- Establish partnerships with government agencies, private investors, and local stakeholders.
- Align redevelopment efforts with the new Community Beautification and Safety Act (2025) for legal and institutional support.
The Basseterre project will include a subsidized field visit to Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis during winter reading week (February 16 – 20, 2026). Students who would like to be considered for this project must be able to travel to Basseterre during this time.