Urban Resilience Project

2025 Urban Resilience Project – Applications Open

Climate leadership and urban policy are inextricably linked. More than 80% of Canadian and French citizens live in urban areas. Cities are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and places where the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat and sea level rise, are most acute. Urban resilience is thus a crucial component to climate adaptation efforts in both Canada and France.  

With this in mind, the CARE Urban Resilience Project, led by Professor Gabriel Eidelman, Assistant Professor and Director of the Urban Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, brings together students from the CARE partner institutions to research and share case studies of innovative urban resilience projects from around the world. 

Selected participants will conduct independent research from July-October 2025, then participate in a four-day study tour of groundbreaking resilience projects in Toronto, from October 27-30, 2025. The study tour will culminate in the CARE Urban Resilience Symposium, on October 30, where students will present their research findings to an audience of academic and industry leaders, as well as their peers. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for participating students from Sciences Po, UBC, and the University of Guelph. 

Each applicant should identify a relevant resilience project in a global city (other than Toronto) and propose a short-format deliverable — a written piece of up to 2,000 words, or an audio-visual product of no more than 10 minutes in length — to be presented at the CARE Urban Resilience symposium. Case studies may focus on any topic related to cities and climate resilience, including green infrastructure, energy, water, housing, transportation, public health, and economic resilience. 

Students may apply individually but are strongly encouraged to propose a project in pairs. Please apply by Monday, June 9th at 1pm EDT/10am PDT/ 7pm CEST using the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/eRukjB5Hm6

Participants must be able to attend all key dates, including two virtual meetings in June and September — tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 26, at 12pm EDT, and Thursday, September 4 at 12pm EDT — and the entirety of the 4-day study tour/symposium in Toronto, from October 27-30, 2025.

Applicants can expect to hear back about the status of their application the week of June 16th.  

Please direct questions to Anastasia Jakub, Student Programs & Project Officer, at the Munk School (anastasia.jakub@utoronto.ca). 

Frequently Asked Questions

Students must be registered in a Master’s program at one of the four CARE partner institutions that relates to the core themes of the CARE program. This project is intended for students who will be entering the second year of their Master’s program in Fall 2025. Applicants should be able to demonstrate a strong interest in urban resilience. 

We anticipate accepting 30 eligible students from partner institutions. 

As part of the application process, students are expected to submit a project proposal for a case study of a specific urban resilience project. We encourage applicants to provide as much detail as possible about not only the case study itself, but also your research plans. Of course, we recognize that as students conduct their research over the summer, the scope of the project may change. 

The Urban Resilience Project is an independent research project; you will not be allocated a direct supervisor. Initial feedback will be provided by the CARE team to admitted students on their project proposal. Additional feedback will be provided at a check-in meeting in early September. Finally, the symposium will be structured so that students present their final deliverable and take questions/ receive feedback from the academic and industry experts in the audience.  

Students can expect to dedicate approximately 10-15 hours per month to the research process. 

  Students are welcome to research cities and projects from anywhere in the world – except Toronto. 

The Munk School will arrange travel and accommodation for those participating in the Urban Resilience Project from other partner institutions. For those traveling to Toronto from UBC, Sciences Po, and the University of Guelph, CARE will cover the cost of transportation and shared accommodation in Toronto for the duration of the gathering, from October 27-30. 

Final details are still being confirmed but the tentative structure of the study tour in Toronto is as follows: 

Travel arrangements to Toronto will depend on the participants’ points of departure. Participants may travel to Toronto either on Sunday, October 26th, or on the morning of Monday, October 27th. Students are expected to return home on Friday, October 31st. 

Participants are welcome to arrive in Toronto before the official activity dates or stay after it ends. However, any additional costs incurred outside the official program dates will be the responsibility of the student.