2024-2026 Sidara Urban Research Seed Grant
The MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) and Sidara (formerly the Dar Group) are thrilled to announce the five selected research initiatives for the third round of the Urban Research Seed Fund, celebrating proposals that will engage in bold experimentation with novel forms of knowledge and data-generating innovative urban solutions, that not only dare to imagine but also critique our current and future urban environments. Research started in the Fall of 2024 and will continue through 2026.
These projects:
- Envision an optimistic urban future that demands an interdisciplinary perspective and fosters collaboration across various fields of expertise, including connection to practice.
- Aim to develop the role of technology in solving urban planning challenges such as environmental issues, energy usage, and citizen preferences, and to generate new solutions that surpass human design;.
Benefit from direct access to Sidara's advanced technological resources and data while receiving initial funding will also help researchers attract future funding based on proven concepts and preliminary results.
To learn more about each of these projects click the name of the project below:
Waka Lagos: An evaluation of pedestrian access to metro stations in Lagos, Nigeria
Urban Observatory: Sound and Visual AI for Biodiversity Detection
Thermal Realities: Turning Crowdsourced Streetscape Imagery into Thermal Digital Twins
Generative AI for Data-Driven Co-Design of Urban Infrastructures
Beyond Prompts: Analogy-enhanced generative AI tools for Urban Design
For more information about the LCAU’s past collaborations with Sidara please click here