WELCOME TO NEO CIVITAS LAB
- July 10, 2026
- Editorial
Those are the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau written in his treatise “Émile, ou de l’éducation” (“Émile, or On Education”) in 1762.
A harsh sentiment… but one many people still feel today.
It’s hard to deny that cities hold real threats alongside their promise. The world keeps urbanizing regardless: more than half of humanity already lives in cities, and that share keeps climbing. Which means the question isn’t whether cities matter. It’s whether we understand them well enough to make them better.
That’s what this project is for.
Where this started
Cities have been at the center of my thinking for a long time… although it took me a while to realize it.
When I was young, I traveled with my family during summer vacations, not as tourists ticking off landmarks, but with the idea that the world was full of different people, cultures, and ways of living, and that we had something to learn from all of it. Those trips shaped how I see things. They’re also where a career pointed toward international relations started to take root.
Somewhere along the way, trying to figure out how a more connected, more “humane” world actually gets built, I landed on something simple: cities are where that happens.
Not in abstract places, but in streets, squares, neighborhoods, suburbs… where most people live and where most opportunities lie. Cities are where civilizations bloom and where humanity builds its greatest achievements… and faces its greatest trials.
What Neo Civitas Lab actually is
Neo Civitas Lab is essentially an urban intelligence project created to inspire and help building better cities while fostering urban literacy through storytelling, critical reflection, and policy insights. It is an informative, analytical and forward-thinking initiative whose objective is to explain you what our cities are like and how they function.
Neo Civitas Lab mission is to analyze, explain, and creatively communicate how cities work, highlighting that cities should not solely strive for technological advancement but prioritize citizen well-being, urban symbiosis, and community-building.
What to expect
Expect fieldwork, not just theory. Videos, reports and posts built around specific cities and specific questions: why a neighborhood in Tokyo has almost no cats despite being a cat-lover’s pilgrimage site, why most of modern cities look so similar, why graffiti and street art in a Basque coastal town say something about identity that a policy report never could, how did the Austrian capital tackle its housing crisis and made affordable housing possible, etc.
From ancient streets to the forces shaping tomorrow’s skylines, the throughline is always the same: understanding where our cities came from, where they are now, and where they could go.
Why this matters to you
If you’re curious about how cities work, why local policy shapes your daily life more than national headlines usually admit, or why a place feels the way it feels when you walk through it – this is for you.
You don’t need a background in urban planning or political science to enjoy this content. You just need to be curious about the places we build and the lives we build inside them.
If you have questions with regards the places you live or visit… let’s figure them out. Together.
Welcome to Neo Civitas Lab.