ABOUT | Urban Innovation and Policy Lab

About us

Urban Innovation and Policy Lab brings together world-class academic scholarship, public authorities, international organisations, the private sector and local SMEs to create a unique environment for urban experimentation, research, teaching and – most importantly – action.

The Lab started out as City Leadership Initiative, and builds on five years of projects, grants and engagement activities. City Leadership Initiative was a joint effort of the World Bank Group and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), with funding from the UK Government's Economic and Social Research (ESRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) Research Councils. Over the past five years we have employed over 30 researchers across 12 projects, with 20 policy and impact-oriented partnerships with key urban and international stakeholders like the World Health Organisation, ARUP, C40 Cities and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Whilst the main goal of the Lab is to tackle globally relevant city challenges, the projects undertaken are practically oriented and often locally focused.

The Lab is based within UCL’s policy-focused Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (UCL STEaPP) and has links across UCL’s network of urban research and practice. Find more information about STEaPP here.