Our Story

LabGov (labgov.city) was founded in 2011 by Christian Iaione to pioneer research and practice in urban co‑governance. Early work in Bologna, Italy — where Sheila Foster and Iaione co‑developed an award‑winning regulation enabling residents to partner with the city on public space revitalization — demonstrated that systematic co‑governance could function at scale.

This success sparked global interest. Through convenings with international city leaders and collaborations with local partners, LabGov initiatives expanded across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, each testing and refining co‑governance in diverse cultural and institutional contexts. These global experiments, documented through the Co‑Cities Project, helped distill the core principles and tools that form the Co‑City Framework.

LabGov@Columbia focuses on direct implementation partnerships with U.S. cities, applying lessons from global practice to local challenges. Led by Professor Sheila Foster, these projects — spanning housing, broadband access, and urban regeneration — demonstrate how co‑governance structures can be adapted to American political and cultural contexts and scaled through durable institutional partnerships.