If you are reading this, chances are, you live in a city. And if you do, you’ve probably spent a lot of time dealing with the garbage, the noise, the traffic, the pollution, and the lack of parks. You’ve probably also enjoyed having access to restaurants, malls, neighbourhood cafes, and your favourite shops. What makes a city great? And What makes it terrible? What does YOUR city do for you, and what can YOU do to make it better? Urban Management Centre has been working to make cities better for over 25 years. In this time, we have been a part of many ‘firsts’ in India’s urbanization story. Our work across diverse contexts have given us insight into urban challenges, and strategies that have been adopted to solve them. Our Founder and Director, Manvita Baradi first conceived of this course in 2005. It has subsequently been run in many forms and with different pedagogies, including at CEPT university and recently at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) as part of the 96th Foundation Program. ​This iteration of the course is dedicated to in-service professionals, from both the non-profit and for-profit sectors, as well as students and government officials. The course uses narrative elements and case studies to introduce the various technical, administrative, and governing structures that make Indian cities what they are. They help learners relate to their lived experiences, while also absorbing the bigger picture and contextualizing some significant experiments in urban development.