URBES-LAB
URBES-LAB is an independent non-profit research center in Lima, Peru, conducting critical urban studies on socio-territorial inequality, housing, land access, and right-to-the-city in Peru and Latin America, serving academic institutions, public agencies, NGOs, and international funders through research, consulting, training, and the CIUR conference.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersRímac, Peru
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What URBES-LAB does
URBES-LAB (Centro de Investigación URBES-LAB) is an independent non-profit research association founded in 2018 and headquartered in Lima, Peru. The center conducts critical, situated urban research on the production of urban space, socio-territorial inequalities, land access, housing rights, and right-to-the-city issues across Peru and Latin America, grounded in Critical Urban Theory and a Global South perspective that explicitly rejects technocratic and Global North frameworks. Its core methodology blends quantitative spatial analysis using GIS/QGIS with qualitative fieldwork (interviews, focus groups, surveys) and is delivered through three operational pillars: research, training, and knowledge dissemination.
The center's product portfolio centers on (1) the biennial CIUR International Academic Conference on Urban and Rural Research in Peru and Latin America, which convened approximately 80 speakers across 13 sessions and 100+ participants at CIUR 2024 in hybrid format at UTEC; (2) specialized consulting services covering urban growth, territorial planning, land policy, regularization, housing policy, and water and sanitation policy for public-sector and civil-society clients; (3) annual research methodology and QGIS training courses (12 lecture hours each), offered both as open enrollment and as customized institutional training; and (4) a multi-format publication library including books, peer-reviewed journal articles (EURE, Bitácora Territorial, Revista de Geografía Norte Grande), four volumes of Cuadernos de Trabajo working papers, Anales CIUR proceedings, 40+ opinion columns, and infographics. Revenue is project-based professional services and grant funding, with no publicly disclosed pricing.
URBES-LAB serves a hybrid customer base: Peruvian and Latin American academic institutions (PUCP, UTEC, INI, Universidad Privada Boliviana) for collaboration and conference hosting; public-sector agencies and NGOs (Water Integrity Network, CENCA, Concytec-Prociencia) for research and consulting engagements; and international funders (Urban Studies Foundation, Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, DAAD/BMZ via TU Berlin/SMUS, Brandenburg University of Technology) for project grants. The team of approximately 14 associated researchers, led by President Jessica Pineda Zumarán (PhD, University of Manchester; postdoctoral work in Japan and Chile), is interdisciplinary across architecture, sociology, economics, geography, and planning, with multiple members holding doctorates from Columbia University, FLACSO-Ecuador, PUC Chile, and the University of Liège.
URBES-LAB firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- URBES-LAB
- Legal name
- Centro de Investigación URBES-LAB
- Website
- https://urbeslab.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- URBES-LAB is an independent non-profit research center in Lima, Peru, conducting critical urban studies on socio-territorial inequality, housing, land access, and right-to-the-city in Peru and Latin America, serving academic institutions, public agencies, NGOs, and international funders through research, consulting, training, and the CIUR conference.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
URBES-LAB industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Urban Research and Consulting Services
- NAICS
- Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)
Keywords
Where URBES-LAB is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rímac
- HQ country
- Peru
- HQ region
- Latin America
Offices1 record
Markets served
URBES-LAB business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Consulting Services: Specialized consulting services for urban development projects, including advisory and methodology development for specific studies. The team analyzes, quantifies, and proposes solutions on issues related to urban growth, urban and territorial planning, land management, land regularization policies, housing policies, and water and sanitation policies.
- Research Training Courses and Workshops: Training workshops in research methodology for professionals and educators in Architecture, Urban Planning, and Urban Studies. Course offerings include Introduction to Research Methodology (12 lecture hours) and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems using QGIS (12 lecture hours). Both offered annually, with content customized for organizational clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Customized consulting engagements |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
URBES-LAB product offering
Product offeringCore offering
URBES-LAB is an independent non-profit research center that generates evidence on urban space production, socio-territorial inequalities, land access, housing rights, and water/sanitation in Peru and Latin America. It sells specialized consulting services in urban planning and territorial management, customized research methodology training courses (including GIS/QGIS), and organizes the biennial CIUR international academic conference as its central dissemination platform. The organization also produces a portfolio of publications including books, working papers, journal articles, and infographics.
Product overview
URBES-LAB operates as a multi-product research and knowledge dissemination organization centered around urban studies in Peru and Latin America. The core product is the CIUR (Conferencia Académica Internacional de Investigación Urbana y Rural), an annual international conference serving as the primary platform for academic exchange. Supporting products include: (1) Consultorías—specialized consulting services in urban planning and policy; (2) Formación—research methodology and GIS training courses; and (3) Publicaciones—a comprehensive portfolio of books, articles, working papers, conference proceedings, opinion columns, and infographics. Additionally, URBES-LAB conducts both own research projects (covering housing displacement, urban space production, and habitability) and collaborative international research projects (examining walkability transitions, hybrid urbanisms, and social housing).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Consultorías (Consulting Services) Specialized consulting services for urban development projects, providing advisory and methodology development on urban growth, urban and territorial planning, land management, land regularization policies, housing policies, and water and sanitation policies. Targeted at government agencies, civil society organizations, and academic institutions in Peru and Latin America.
- Formación (Training Courses) Research methodology training workshops and courses for students, professionals, and educators in Architecture, Urban Planning, and Urban Studies. Includes Introduction to Research Methodology (12 lecture hours) and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems using QGIS (12 lecture hours), offered annually with content customized for organizational clients.
- CIUR International Academic Conference on Urban and Rural Research in Peru and Latin America International academic conference organized biennially as URBES-LAB's central knowledge dissemination platform, featuring academic presentations, thematic panels, and publication of conference proceedings (Anales CIUR). Held in hybrid (in-person and virtual) format, with CIUR 2024 hosted at UTEC, Lima.
- Publicaciones (Publications) Portfolio of knowledge products including books, book chapters, academic articles, working papers (Cuadernos de Trabajo), conference proceedings (Anales CIUR), opinion columns, and infographics on urban and territorial studies, distributed openly via the website.
- Expansión urbana y fragmentación territorial Collaborative research project analyzing comparative urban expansion and territorial fragmentation through periurban land sale projects in three regions of Peru (Arequipa, Lima, and Tacna) from 2000-2025.
Quantifiable outcome
- CIUR 2024 gathered ~80 speakers in 13 sessions and over 100 participants from Peru and Latin America in hybrid format
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use URBES-LAB
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
URBES-LAB technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
URBES-LAB partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Water Integrity NetworkcoreCollaborative partnership on the course 'Human Settlements in Lima: Corruption, Integrity and Access to Water and Sanitation.' The project examines how integrity failures affect water and sanitation access at different spatial scales (city, neighborhood, household) in Lima's informal settlements. URBES-LAB researchers Diana Torres, Sharo López, Daniela Perleche, and María Tuanamá participated as part of the team.
- The Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS, TU Berlin)coreCo-funder of the water integrity course for Lima informal settlements. SMUS is financed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
- Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC)coreHost institution for the CIUR 2024 conference (International Academic Conference on Urban and Rural Research in Peru and Latin America). Held at UTEC, Jr. Medrano Silva 165, Barranco, Lima, in hybrid (in-person and virtual) format.
- Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)coreCollaborative partner in multiple research projects including housing policy (Techo Propio), urban expansion analysis (Arequipa, Lima, Tacna), and the Seminar Series on land commodification. CISEPA-PUCP co-authored the policy brief on walkability in the Global South.
- Instituto de Investigación de la Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Artes (INIFAUA) - Universidad Nacional de IngenieríamajorFunding and institutional partner for the research project analyzing habitability conditions in San Juan de Lurigancho during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). INIFAUA provided financing for the online survey and fieldwork.
- Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano - CENCAminorPartner organization that helped contact neighborhood leaders in San Juan de Lurigancho's Comuna 6 and Comuna 17 for the habitability conditions survey research.
- Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany)minorPublisher of the open-access book 'Hybrid Urbanisms in Secondary Cities of the Global South' through its Open Access Publication Fund. Contributed to the book's publication through Brandenburg's Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Urban Planning.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
URBES-LAB competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Latin America's largest multilateral lender with extensive urban development and housing research programs. Comparable as a regional funder and producer of urban policy research in countries where URBES-LAB operates.
- UN-Habitat: United Nations agency for sustainable urban development, conducting global research on urbanization, housing, and informal settlements. Comparable on thematic focus (housing rights, informal settlements, urban inequality) but operates at intergovernmental scale.
- World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities: Global research organization working on sustainable urban development, with deep Latin America engagement. Comparable to URBES-LAB on urban sustainability research, but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic mandate.
- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: US-based international think tank conducting research on land policy, urban planning, and property taxation globally. Comparable to URBES-LAB's work on land commodification and periurban land sales, though broader in geographic scope and more policy-instrument oriented.
Direct peers
- Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP): International organization promoting sustainable and equitable urban transportation, with active programs in Latin America including walkability and mobility research. Closely comparable to URBES-LAB's 'Towards Walkability Transitions in Latin America' project and broader urban-sustainability mission.
- Urban Studies Foundation: UK-based charitable foundation supporting critical urban studies research and scholarship globally, currently funding URBES-LAB's Seminar Series on land commodification. Comparable on the urban-studies research-funding side, though operating as a funder rather than an executing research center.
- Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano - CENCA: Peruvian urban research and advocacy organization focused on urban development, housing rights, and territorial management. Listed as a URBES-LAB partner on the San Juan de Lurigancho habitability study, making it a directly comparable peer in scope, geography, and mission.
Regional players
- CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean: Latin American multilateral development bank funding urban infrastructure, housing, and territorial development projects across the region. Comparable as a Latin American urban-development ecosystem player that both funds and publishes urban research, though as a financial institution rather than academic center.
- FLACSO - Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales: Latin American social sciences graduate university and research network operating across multiple countries. Two URBES-LAB researchers hold FLACSO-Ecuador master's degrees, evidencing direct comparability on social-science urban research training and methodology.
Others
- CLACSO - Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales: Latin American Social Sciences Council coordinating academic networks and research training across the region. Comparable as an enabling academic ecosystem player that supports the type of methodology training URBES-LAB delivers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
URBES-LAB social profiles
Digital presenceURBES-LAB financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
URBES-LAB leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
URBES-LAB funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
URBES-LAB M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about URBES-LAB
What does URBES-LAB do?
URBES-LAB is an independent non-profit research center that generates evidence on urban space production, socio-territorial inequalities, land access, housing rights, and water/sanitation in Peru and Latin America. It sells specialized consulting services in urban planning and territorial management, customized research methodology training courses (including GIS/QGIS), and organizes the biennial CIUR international academic conference as its central dissemination platform. The organization also produces a portfolio of publications including books, working papers, journal articles, and infographics.
Is URBES-LAB a public or private company?
URBES-LAB is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was URBES-LAB founded?
URBES-LAB was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is URBES-LAB based?
URBES-LAB is headquartered in Rímac, Peru, in the Latin America region.
How does URBES-LAB make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Consulting Services are the primary driver. The others are research Training Courses and Workshops.
Who are URBES-LAB's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), UN-Habitat, World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Direct peers are Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Urban Studies Foundation and Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano - CENCA. Regional players are CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and FLACSO - Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. CLACSO - Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales is listed as an others.
Does URBES-LAB have an API?
No public API is recorded for URBES-LAB.
What industry is URBES-LAB in?
URBES-LAB's product category is Urban Research and Consulting Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAIABAC, Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships). Its NAICS code is 5417 and its SIC code is 8731.