This course offers practical and strategic skills needed to lead successful projects, programs, and initiatives in cultural, community, neighborhood, and urban development contexts. Core topics include urban planning fundamentals—covering the essential policy, zoning, and land-use principles that underpin community, urban and regional restructuring processes—as well as frameworks for cross-sector collaboration that enable effective partnerships across public, private, and nonprofit domains. The course also explores forms of political education and engagement in a context of project development, offering techniques to both inform and mobilize those who might be positively or negatively affected by social and urban change and foster plurality and long-term civic engagement leading to inclusive decision making processes. Students will examine how to transform projects into policy, devising strategies for scaling and institutionalizing pilot initiatives, while also gaining practical experience in grant writing, funding acquisition, and financial management for partnerships. Students will learn to navigate the complex intersections between government, nonprofits, private, and community stakeholders to drive meaningful, sustainable change. Through a dynamic combination of lectures, workshops, and hands-on projects, participants will build the confidence and competence needed to design, fund, and manage initiatives that bridge institutional boundaries and strengthen communities. This course is recommended for students in their final year, particularly those developing a thesis project.