The Urban Design Research Institute, through its Mumbai Studio, engages with young professionals and students through project-based collaborations or research fellowship programs focused on urban design, planning and policy in the city and in emerging landscapes throughout the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. These engagements are conducted through joint studios with local schools of architecture and institutions across the world or through workshops with municipal school students in the city.
The first such joint international studio, initiated in 2005, was in collaboration with the Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP), Michigan. Since then, UDRI has collaborated with the Graduate School of Design at Harvard and the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT amongst others. Several of these studios are followed up by publications that document the work of students and support ongoing dialogue on urban issues. UDRI has also collaborated with local schools of architecture on documentation work for its projects such as the Fort Management Plan or advocacy for the Development plan. In the recent past, UDRI held workshops through Salaam Bombay, a Mumbai-based foundation that works with underprivileged children. The workshops allowed for interactive sessions with municipal school students on pertinent issues related to housing, health, water, sanitation, transport and heritage.