This story comes from our friends at UChicago News Office. See the full story including videos and pictures of the projects on their website.
The University of Chicago is creating a new network of five Urban Labs to address some of the world’s most daunting urban problems and help realize the promise of cities in an era of global urbanization.
UChicago Urban Labs will design and test the most promising urban policies and programs across five key areas: crime, education, energy and the environment, health, and poverty. The collaborative approach recognizes that many long-term challenges in cities are related, and require unified responses. To make an impact on the broadest scale, Urban Labs will partner with civic leaders and practitioners in Chicago and around the world.
“At a time when the world’s cities are growing more rapidly than ever before, the University has a singular opportunity to support rigorous research that tests policies and programs to improve lives—from the South Side of Chicago to urban centers around the world,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “This marks an important step in our faculty’s growing commitment to urban scholarship.”
Urban Labs will be launched with $15 million in seed funding, including a $10 million donation from the Pritzker Foundation. Building on the successful examples of the UChicago Crime Lab and Education Lab, this funding will enable the creation of three more related programs—the Health Lab, Energy and Environment Lab, and Poverty Lab. Each will be led by a distinguished UChicago faculty member. The Pritzker gift also will fund pilot projects by community groups, non-profits, or government agencies, to be selected through the Urban Labs Innovation Challenge. These projects will help propel research findings into tangible community improvements.
“The Pritzker Foundation sees philanthropic giving as an opportunity to make a difference in our community and in society. In the case of Urban Labs, we have an opportunity to do both,” said Tom Pritzker, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corp. and chairman and CEO of The Pritzker Organization. “We are eager to support the next generation of policy innovations at the University of Chicago, which has an ideal combination of urban expertise and global reach.”
