This metropolitan area will pioneer the exploration of urban solutions through a research laboratory and to-scale simulations, through a joint effort between the Regional Government of Biobío, Corporación Ciudades, the local Chilean Chamber of Construction and MIT, in collaboration with regional universities, municipalities and civic organisations.

Greater Concepción today has nearly one million inhabitants across 10 of the province’s 12 municipalities. It is the country’s second largest metropolitan area, with 98 per cent urban population and only 23.7 per cent of its residents living in areas considered high urban wellbeing.

Looking across the individual municipalities, deep gaps emerge in access to services and amenities, with a housing deficit exceeding 20,000 units and a proliferation of precarious settlements.

This diagnosis led the Regional Government of Biobío to forge a partnership with the Chilean Chamber of Construction in Concepción, Corporación Ciudades and MIT for the development of the City Lab Biobío programme. Through this city laboratory, urban planning will be strengthened over the next 48 months in a sustainable manner, addressing the most pressing housing needs and working towards making Greater Concepción a smart city.

The City Lab Biobío programme will involve the permanent and active collaboration of the Universidad de Concepción, Universidad del Bío-Bío and Universidad del Desarrollo, along with representatives from civil society, the business community and the municipalities that make up Greater Concepción. To that end, coordination bodies and an urban governance structure will be created to strengthen ties between the various stakeholders involved.

“What this initiative seeks is to bring to the Biobío region a working methodology that will allow us to build better cities for people. With it we will be able to balance the interests of social organisations and residents, safeguard the environment, and at the same time model different alternatives and collectively choose the best course of action. It is a major innovation that will contribute to solving problems in the Concepción metropolitan area, and will also allow us to generate learning and embed knowledge in our region,” said Biobío Regional Governor Rodrigo Díaz.

Urban life quality

City Lab Biobío also includes the installation of a research laboratory and the use of the CityScope platform, which will enable to-scale urban simulations of real situations with the aim of exploring solutions that improve residents’ quality of life. This will make it possible to analyse options such as the development or strengthening of specific neighbourhoods, parks or transport routes, among other planning possibilities. The city laboratory will thus generate diverse scenarios and anticipate the impact of urban projects or transformations.

For Antonio Errázuriz, national president of the Chilean Chamber of Construction, despite being a clear public demand, “our country has a growing deficit in access to housing and urban quality of life, the result of an outdated planning system. Hence the importance of an initiative like City Lab, which seeks precisely to help address these weaknesses through collaborative work, promoting the comprehensive development of cities and their inhabitants.”

Territorial Equity

Artificial intelligence, data analysis, long-term planning and multidisciplinary teamwork will be among the defining features of City Lab Biobío. Corporación Ciudades, which promotes the coordination of diverse social actors for the better development of urban initiatives, will serve as the link between MIT Media Lab experts and the project being developed in the Biobío region.

“This is a unique opportunity for an area as significant as Greater Concepción. For the first time in Chile, we will have access to the knowledge and methodology of MIT to develop urban planning that looks beyond short political cycles to the long term. We hope this will mean progress towards greater territorial equity and an improved quality of life for families living in areas with lower urban wellbeing,” said Martín Andrade, executive director of Corporación Ciudades.

MIT Media Lab promotes the study, innovation and use of digital technologies to solve complex social problems. It is made up of 26 research groups, among which the City Science Group stands out for its work on planning cities for the future. The group’s director, Kent Larson, is an American architect and researcher who has twice won the “10-Year Impact” award for his contributions to the development of smart cities.

This type of city laboratory is already present in seven other cities across different countries: Toronto, Guadalajara, Hamburg, Andorra, Taipei, Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City. The intervention in Greater Concepción will mark the initiative’s debut in South America.