The MidCityLabs is a new urban innovation platform dedicated to solving urban challenges affecting sustainability, resilience and governance in global secondary cities and the built environment of the developing world, through exploring and developing solutions, business models and processes that integrate policy, technology and civic engagement.
If you are a city leader, a research institute, or a global civictech changer and you want to partner or collaborate with us or if you wish to propose a challenge or a beta site for the Labs
send us a message here
(and write in the subject "MIdCityLab")
The Lab’s unique focus on secondary cities stems from an understanding that while most of the global urban growth is happening in secondary cities, most of them have fewer resources, knowledge, and capacities to effectively plan and manage urban development and promote employment and economic opportunities to improve the quality of life for their residents, communities, and businesses
With this in mind, it is a surprise that most of the global urban thinking, budgets & solutions are still being developed for and by large developed cities with larger expenditures and resources. In the developing world, most of the global funds are concentrated in rural areas or on micro-scale solutions with no real benefit for sustainable economic growth. This limited focus neglects secondary cities in the developing and developed world alike, substantially affecting global stability, equality & sustainability.
The MidCityLabs has been developed to alter this trend by creating an on-the-ground, market-focused innovation ecosystem, partnering with leading organizations and urban stakeholders to work together on understanding these cities and urban typologies and defining better ways to introduce better quality of life, resilience, and sustainability, through the 3 main pillars
Creating new models, including redesigning policies, strategies, and financial & technological frameworks to better address urban challenges
Piloting new processes and solutions through a process of validation & improvement of existing or new solutions or business models and creation of new or improved implementation methods
carving the path for marketing and scaling the most accurate solutions towards sustainable local, regional and global growth, while engaging local enterprises