UVA in India — Urban Transformations, Exploring Sustainability Past and Present in India: Program Overview
J TERM 2026
DECEMBER 29, 2025 – JANUARY 09, 2026
APPLICATION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 1, 2025
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INFORMATION SESSION
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Friday September 12, 5pm
On Zoom (Details below)Interested students must complete this form to register using your UVA email.
Apply for School of Architecture Study Abroad Funding for J-Term 2025
Today, 56% of the world's human population of 4.4 billion live in cities. As the largest and most permanent physical artifacts created by our species, cities are the perfect place to explore the past, present, and future of human settlement, architecture, culture, and sustainability. The course examines processes of physical urban change through a sustainability lens. As a culturally diverse nation with a rich and complex history and the largest country population (18% of the world’s people), India is an ideal case study. In Delhi, Sonipat, Mathura, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri, we will explore how these cities and building types have been transformed due to environmental, aesthetic, and socio-economic forces. We will learn about sustainability indicators and key challenges that all global cities face—climate change, the need for shelter, water, food, energy, and transportation, waste management, environmental and heritage conservation, environmental justice, and how to imagine and plan for a more sustainable future.
The program is based in Delhi, India’s exciting capital city, where we will study 1000 years of rich history and dynamic present. During a three-day excursion, we will experience the sacred city of Mathura with its bathing ghats and stepwells, the Taj Mahal and Red Fort in the Mughal empire’s capital Agra, and the beautiful, abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri. We will learn through daily field visits that incorporate on-site talks, reading discussions, and student reports. This is unscheduled time in the evening to pursue individual interests and a free day in Delhi.
Urban Transformations: Exploring Sustainability Past and Present in India
GSGS 3530 and ARCH 3500 (undergraduate) or ARCH 5500 (graduate); 3 credits
Students will learn about human-environmental transformations from historical to contemporary settlements in India, with a focus on understanding both past and contemporary sustainable strategies (eg. urban density, architectural types, rainwater collection + storage, passive design, natural materials). Additionally, students will gain significant intercultural experiences through structured visits and interactions with host country nationals. In particular, the program with collaborate will faculty and students from Jindal Global University.
Phoebe Crisman | crisman@virginia.edu
Phoebe Crisman is a Professor of Architecture and Director of the pan-university Global Studies and Global Environments + Sustainability programs. With a comparative sustainability lens, her research and teaching examines intersections of place and culture globally. Principal of UVA’s International Residential College, Phoebe had led Education Abroad and research programs in India, China, Europe, and South Africa.