This paper describes an innovative collaboration between the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Nairobi. By bringing universities into urban policy networks, this partnership aims to re-shape pedagogy, policy and research action for sustainable urban development. The strategy underlying this partnership is to foster meaningful local university/municipality partnerships aimed at improving the social and physical sustainability of cities in the global South as well as transform how and what urban planning students learn in order to manage power and complexity. This paper raises questions about international collaborations that bring universities together with cities and their residents and how those collaborations can be designed to better ensure their success.