Colombo Urban Lab hosted Professor Jonathan Spencer from the University of Edinburgh and Dr. Avanka Fernando from the University of Colombo on the 16th of January 2025 in an online event titled "Debt without Development? Sri Lanka's Urban Regeneration Project's Failed Promises". The guests shared their insight on Sri Lanka’s development projects and debt, and the impact of the Colombo Urban Regeneration Project on the primary stakeholders, the local community. Alongside the discussion, a review of the key insights from the report, “Built on Sand: Colombo’s Urban Regeneration Project” was presented by the Colombo Urban Lab team. 

What fruits and vegetables do working class poor communities consume? What are the drivers behind the choices they make and how do they experience their food environment? Since July 2023, we have been researching these questions in Colombo and Deniyaya. The nutritional landscape of Sri Lanka’s working-class poor is complex, shaped by institutional and systemic challenges that go beyond lack of income or limited access to fresh produce. Real change requires addressing multiple competing costs, conducting inclusive discussions, educating communities on affordable meal preparation, and even reforming land rights policies to enable self-sustained food production.

Colombo Urban Lab's latest report "Built on Sand: A Review of Colombo’s Urban Regeneration Project" does a deep dive into one of Sri Lanka's key post-war infrastructure projects - the Urban Regeneration Project by the Urban Development Authority. This report covers the dispossession and lived realities of the relocated communities in the high-rises, looks at the financing of the URP - including findings of Auditor General's reports, reports from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and other publicly available material, and the status of the 'liberated' lands in Colombo today.

In July 2024, the Colombo Urban Lab team embarked on a series of exploratory sessions in Colombo to reflect on public spaces in the city. Starting at Independence Square, we took routes that went through major public spaces that we recognised as being synonymous with many people’s lives in Colombo. From Viharamahadevi Park to Race Course Mall, we looked at the purpose of each of these public spaces, and how they are used today. These are some of our reflections on what we felt, saw, and heard.

Colombo Urban Lab’s fourth policy brief on the impact of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis on the city's working class poor communities focusses on energy, education and health. These findings are from our ongoing qualitative research with communities in Colombo as well as a household survey conducted in April 2024 with thirty households in a settlement in North Colombo.

This infographic provides an overview of the sustainability of neighbourhoods in Colombo. A total of 1,360 settlements in the Colombo Municipality were surveyed in 2023, using 27 indicators for physical infrastructure, tenure and socio-economic conditions, to assess sustainability of neighbourhoods. The findings showed that settlements cannot be characterised as underserved settlements as they have adequate infrastructure provisioning.

On the 7th of March 2024, Centre for a Smart Future and Colombo Urban Lab hosted an event called, “Communicating Crisis”. The event featured a panel discussion on Sri Lanka’s path to a just recovery, anchored to key questions. How do economic indicators compare with people’s lived experiences? How can civil society and the media amplify voices from the ground?

SEVANATHA and Colombo Urban Lab is pleased to announce the launch of the Colombo Settlements Survey Report for the year 2023, in collaboration with the Colombo Municipal Council. The report provides the latest data on all 1360 urban settlements in the City of Colombo, with key findings and recommendations. The Colombo Settlements Survey is the third iteration of the Survey, which was previously conducted in 2002 and 2012 by SEVANATHA in collaboration with the Colombo Municipal Council. The survey collects data on key indicators including tenure, access to basic services and level of housing development as well as on the socio-economic aspects of the settlements.

Colombo Urban Lab's policy brief on Sri Lanka's economic crisis highlights increased household debt and social security in working-class poor communities, highlighting the unique challenges faced by these families, despite the seemingly normal streets.

A two-day Policy-Lab in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on August 22-23, 2023, will focus on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for South Asian cities, integrating equity and addressing unique challenges, with collaborations from Colombo Urban Lab, People's Alliance for Right to Land, Transitions Research, and International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

The reconfiguration of Colombo’s built environment and infrastructure has lasting consequences for the city’s food environment and people’s access to affordable fresh produce. This article discusses how public markets are more than the building in which its activities take place.

The economic crisis in Colombo has significantly impacted the working class poor, who were already struggling due to lockdowns and loss of daily wage work. The April 2023 policy brief updates the situation, discussing electricity tariff hikes, Welfare Benefits Board enumeration, and recommendations for State and policy support.