Training Initiatives

Training Contact

The UN's 2016 World Cities Report recognizes that cities are transformative centers that can become leaders in implementing a new urban agenda that promotes environmentally sustainable, resilient, socially inclusive, safe and economically productive cities and regions.

The NCSG's International Training Institute (ITI) for Urban Planning Management offers leadership programs and the tools to address these complex and interdependent issues for elected leadership, city managers and planners, and civil society and community-based organizations. ITI is built on the premise that cross-boundary thinking and collaboration are key to finding sustainable development solutions for urban centers.

Located on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, the ITI draws on the NCSG's experience in providing training programs, study tours, skill focused programs, and special seminars that have been attended by 2,600 planners, professionals, researchers, scholars, educators, graduate students, high-level and elected officials.

We offer residency-based one-week and two-week training programs centered on core themes that respond to the 21st century urban agenda taught by University faculty, affiliates and practitioners. Our relationships with public agencies and not-for-profits, and our work with local communities, provide important case studies on local and regional growth and development that ITI participants can visit while in the Washington D.C. area.

Sustainable Urban Management and International Training Program

The Sustainable Urban Management and International Training Program (SUMIT) is a partnership between the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and the University of Maryland School of Public Policy’s Executive Programs. Our mission is to empower future urban leaders to effectively reduce poverty, protect the environment, limit the effects of climate change, and improve the quality of life of their citizens. We do this by providing skills, knowledge and abilities in smart growth, urban management, planning and development to the next generation of professionals working in international development and talented urban leaders from developing countries.