In 2015, UN-Habitat and the Creative Industries Fund NL began collaborating in the field of urban development. Specifically, the partnership supports 20 designers who work together in teams at five urban labs around the world.  Two of the labs are in Asia: in Myanmar and the Philippines.

The participating designers spend a year working at one of the labs, collaborating with an international, multidisciplinary team on urgent assignments that are formulated based on recommendations from the related city or urban area.

Take a look at the Urban Labs selected in Asia:

Urban Lab Myanmar - New Economy and New Paradigm, Yangon
Jean-Paul Hitipeuw – Urban Codes
Han Dijk – Posad
Michiel van Driessche – Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners
Darrel Ronald – Maketank

Urban Lab Philippines - Resilience to climate change, Tacloban City
Marieke Kums – Studio MAKS
Neville Mars – MARS Architects
Harmen van de Wal – Krill o.r.c.a.
Christopher de Vries – Rademacher de Vries

And the Urban Labs selected in other parts of the world in the context of this collaboration:

Urban Lab Ghana - Ningo Prampram - Planned City Extension in the Greater Accra Region
Markus Appenzeller – MLA+
Eric Frijters – Fabric
Martin Knuijt – OKRA
Daan Roggeveen – MORE ARCHITECTURE
Ingeborg Thoral – MIXST URBANISME

Urban Lab Mexico - Urban Renewal Strategy in Doctores, Mexico City
Jaap Klaarenbeek – Klaarenbeek Stedenbouw Architectuur & Strategie
Marco Broekman – marco.broekman urbanism research architecture
Kristin Jensen – Morgenstad
Gerwin de Vries – LINT landscape architecture

Urban Lab Palestine - Build Back Better in Khuza’a
Eric-Jan Pleijster – LOLA landscape architects
Naomi Hoogervorst – Freem open architecture
Martin Sobota – CITYFÖRSTER Rotterdam
Peter Vanden Abeele – Maat Ontwerpers