Since 2022, Colombo Urban Lab has been documenting the realities of Colombo’s working-class urban poor amid Sri Lanka’s polycrisis. Through a series of policy briefs over the years, CUL’s work has highlighted how prolonged economic and social instability creates compounding vulnerabilities for Colombo’s working-class poor. 

Colombo Urban Lab’s latest policy brief examines the protracted and often invisible impacts of Sri Lanka’s polycrisis on Colombo’s working class poor, focusing on how they have increased vulnerabilities to new    shocks such as natural disasters and the global energy crisis. These findings are based on qualitative research with communities in Colombo, a household survey of 45 households conducted across four settlements in January 2026, and ongoing engagements with community leaders from across Colombo.

These brochures present key insights and recommendations on care and social protection in Sri Lanka, drawing on a broader research report on care work and women’s economic participation in urban contexts. Designed as an accessible overview of the findings, the brochures are available in Sinhala, English, and Tamil.

Colombo Urban Lab launched its latest report, “Social Protection and Urban Infrastructures of Care in Colombo” on the 19th of January 2026. The presentation of the report’s findings was followed by a panel discussion on recommendations for improving care infrastructure and social protection and what opportunities and roadblocks lay ahead in catalysing change. The panel consisted of Vraie Cally Balthazaar, Mayor of Colombo, Dr. Farzana Haniffa, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Emma Brigham, UNICEF representative for Sri Lanka and Iromi Perera, Director of the Colombo Urban Lab.

Sri Lanka is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), obligated to progressively realise rights such as adequate food, housing, health, education, and social security. Despite clear obligations, Sri Lanka’s track record shows a persistent gap between formal commitments and reality.

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?