The ASEFSU23 consisted of 3 main programme elements. In the pre-hack Phase (11-29 October 2021): "Ideation, including Challenge definition, knowledge building & stakeholder engagement", all participants undertook training and attended workshops to deepen their understanding of the theme of Sustainable Cities and Urbanisation, as well as provide them with an outlook on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

As part of the programme they completed individual & group tasks, and were provided extra resources for self-paced learning using an e-learning platform, including a number of Background Papers on the topics that can be read at https://asef.org/news/asefsu23-background-papers/.

A major contributor to these papers was the Centre for Sustainable Healthy Learning Cities at the University of Glasgow, with two papers from India by SHLC partner, Dr Debolina Kundu and a further paper from Bangladesh by SHLC partner, Dr Shilpi Roy.