Cities LAB

Banner City - Investor - Inter American Development Bank - IDB

The IDB Cities Lab is a platform for innovation, experimentation, and knowledge exchange that contributes to the sustainable development of Latin American and Caribbean cities. It provides a space for experimentation and co-creation to promote the development of innovative solutions to the challenges facing cities in the region. It also seeks to strengthen the design culture and implementation of projects based on evidence and data to better support decision making. Its main lines of action are:

Identify and analyze trends to activate innovation in Latin American cities.

Promote experimentation processes to incorporate innovation in cities and Bank operations.

Connect cities and relevant actors to foster the exchange of innovative practices.

Street - Investor - Inter American Development Bank - IDB

The Cities Lab fosters innovation ecosystems in LAC local governments, modernizes regulations, enhances tech access, and promotes training and exchange networks. It integrates innovative approaches into the Bank's operations, emphasizing evidence-based decision-making.

We connect problems with solutions, transform pilots into practices, and generate new ideas through trial and error. Additionally, we support city teams to explore solutions and pilot replicable and scalable projects. Our four main roles:

Visionary

We identify and share trends to activate innovation in Latin American and Caribbean cities.

Connector

We connect, articulate, and disseminate innovation between cities, IDB teams and all relevant actors (provate sector, academia, voluntary sector)

Experimenter

We support our urban counterparts to generate capacities to co-implement iterative experimentation processes, based on methodologies such as design thinking, among others

Technology and data promoter

We generate and help cities use open-source digital tools to improve processes of diagnosis, planning, management, and supervisions of urban development projects.