What They Do
The Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) is a center for planning and development within the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. CoLab supports the development and use of knowledge from excluded communities to deepen civic engagement, improve community practice, inform policy, mobilize community assets, and generate shared wealth. CoLab believes that community knowledge can drive powerful innovation and help make markets an arena for supporting social justice. MIT faculty and graduate students work in partnership with communities in the Bronx, the Deep South (US), Latin America, and the Caribbean.
What We Love
CoLab explores how the intersection of democracy, environment, and community economics can drive long-term change and revitalization for neighborhoods and cities. This simple and innovative program champions the belief that marginalized communities need the capacity to make inquiries into the way current power systems are organized—and to experiment with alternatives that make cities more resilient and fair. It empowers people to drive their own change in their own neighborhoods and communities.
