Laboratorio para la Ciudad (Laboratory for the City) is Mexico City’s experimental
office for civic innovation and urban creativity, the first city government department
of its kind in Latin America. The Lab is a space for rethinking, reimagining, and
reinventing the way citizens and government can work together towards a more open,
more livable and more imaginative city.
Mexico City’s Lab for the City was founded as a creative think-tank and
experimental space for the government of Mexico City - the first of its kind
at the city level in Latin America that brings together stakeholders within
the civic tech space. It is the product of a partnership between an ambitious
new Mayor and citizens committed to harnessing innovation to positively impact
their city. The Lab’s primary staff is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of
20 people (artists, architects, urban planners, journalists, designers, historians,
sociologists, techies, economists, etc.) and officially launched in June 2013.
Working in a studio-like manner, the Lab environment fostered creativity and
collaboration with an overarching strategy articulated as “provocations.”
Founding Story
Elected in 2012, Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera founded the Laboratorio para la
Ciudad (Mexico City Government Innovation Lab) to institutionalize innovation
inside city government. It is run as a creative think tank and is home to
CódigoCDMX (Code for Mexico City). CódigoCDMX recruited, trained and guided five
skilled technologists to serve as fellows for a nine-month program in which they
partnered with six Mexico City government departments. Working in partnership
with these departments, they used technology to devise solutions to problems
facing city residents.
People
Gabriella Gómez-Mont
With one of the most complex and fascinating cities in the whole world as a playground, Gabriella Gómez-Mont directs Laboratorio para la Ciudad, Mexico City’s new creative think-tank and experimental space. Laboratorio is a place to reflect about all things city and to ponder social scripts and urban futures for the largest megalopolis in the western hemisphere. Covering everything from the practical to the outlandish, the Laboratorio both explores immediate solutions for today and also examines the next 100 years of this city’s (and others cities’) life.
Daniel Tello
Fascinated since he was a kid about the digital world and its potential, Daniel did a bachelor's degree in electronics and now is part of the Technological Innovation area in the Lab for the City.
