Learning while waiting out uncertainty: cities as ‘relay points’ for aspirational youth
Funding period: 1 August 2026 – 30 April 2027
Type of funding:
International Fellowship
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69752/CQPA-N994
Award Number: USF-INT-251007
Dr Mukta Naik is an architect and urban planner with over two decades of experience working on housing, migration, livelihoods, and urban governance in reputed Indian think tanks like the Centre for Policy Research and the National Institute of Urban Affairs. She recently completed a PhD in Urban Development and Governance from the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
As a USF International Fellow, Dr Naik will spend nine months at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC), University of Minnesota and will work under the mentorship of Dr Anant Maringanti, Director, ICGC, Director of Graduate Studies and Senior Lecturer, Development Studies and Social Change Minor Program.
During the Fellowship, she will work on developing a book proposal and two book chapters that reframe how cities in the global south are pivoting from their role as destinations and sites of emancipation, to becoming sites of waiting, learning and potential renewal for marginalised youth who are navigating disruptions – from pandemics to geopolitical shifts – beyond their control. Her work will build on a data archive collated from her doctoral work, policy research and situated practice to narrate the city in terms that better reflect young people’s lived realities and potential for resilience.
Profile at Orcid | Profile at Academia | Profile at Linkedin | Mukta.naik@gmail.com