“What if Greater Concepción’s best ambassadors were its own residents?” That premise is the foundation of Recomiendo Conce, an initiative launched by City Lab Biobío that invites locals to highlight their favorite spots across the city and region. Through an open survey, the project aims to build a community-curated guide of places worth recommending to visitors.

The initiative is part of the Cities in Transition Summit, which will bring more than 150 researchers from Chile and around the world to Concepción on Oct. 7, 8 and 9 — the first meeting of MIT’s urban laboratory network in the Southern Hemisphere.

Aimed at giving visitors an unforgettable penquista experience, the survey invites residents to recommend restaurants, local eateries, lookout points, urban parks, cultural centers, live music venues and neighborhoods with a distinct local character.

The survey is live at citylabbiobio.github.io/recomiendo-conce, where all submissions can be explored through an interactive, collaborative map. Users can see which spots the community has already flagged and add their own.

During the Summit at the Teatro Biobío, the survey results will be presented as an immersive experience allowing visitors to explore the region’s most beloved spots. Attendees will also be able to add new perspectives, leave comments and contribute their own vision to the map, enriching the platform with a broader range of voices.

The summit, organized by City Lab Biobío and MIT Media Lab’s City Science group with global innovation support from ChileMass, will feature international experts in urbanism, data and technology from Europe, Asia, North America and South America. Over three days of talks and public activities, attendees will explore what the cities of the future might look like through data science and the exchange of global experience.

“We want residents themselves to tell us what the best local experience looks like for visitors. Every recommendation reflects our identity and the way we live our city. We all have that go-to café, that hidden gem only locals know, or that corner that deserves to be on the map. Recomiendo Conce is about bringing them all together in a living platform — where community voices become data and collective memory.”

Fernando Pérez, Principal Director City Lab Biobío