University of Chicago Urban Labs

By 2050, the global urban population will nearly double to 6.4 billion. This unprecedented growth in the global urban population creates incredible opportunities but also intensifies the most difficult problems cities face, such as concentrated poverty, crime, poor-quality schooling, and pollution. The University of Chicago founded Urban Labs to help address these challenges. Urban Labs is a set of highly synergistic labs focused on undertaking inquiry and having impact on five essential dimensions of urban life: crime, education, health, poverty, and energy & environment. Urban Labs partners with cities to identify and rigorously evaluate the policies and programs with the greatest potential to improve human lives at scale. Urban Labs’ evidence-based approach gives policymakers and practitioners the knowledge they need to effectively achieve the greatest social good per dollar spent.

In sum, UChicago Urban Labs:

• Identifies promising solutions to urban challenges
• Tests the most promising urban policies and programs
• Scales-up the most effective and cost-efficient policies and programs

For more information about the UChicago Urban Labs, go to http://urbanlabs.uchicago.edu/