After almost two years in operation, the challenges and key achievements of the TUC Urban Lab established in León, Mexico, provide valuable lessons for sustaining ongoing activities, accelerating broader transformations and guiding similar efforts elsewhere:
- ESTABLISHING THE UL AS A NEUTRAL SPACE FOR DIALOGUE AND COLLABORATION: The UL León has become a space for constructive discussions, gradually involving multiple stakeholders and fostering collaboration, despite differing interests. However, further steps are necessary to identify and empower new leaderships for sustaining, institutionalizing and scaling UL processes and outcomes. Enhancing community ownership, not just over implementation but also over planning and maintenance of solutions, could maximize the impact of the UL.
- FOSTERING URBAN CHANGE THROUGH PARTICIPATION AND NEW LEADERSHIPS: The diversity of interests and agendas represented in the UL León fostered experimentation at the intersection of environmental, climate and social challenges. While UL initiatives promoted community leadership, especially mobilizing female leaders, more strategic engagement is needed to foster meaningful citizen participation in urban change dynamics, including climate-related policy and investment decisions.
- DEVELOPING CAPACITIES AND SYNERGIES FOR CLIMATE ACTION: Capacity development can enhance UL impact through skills that motivate community ownership and changes in lifestyles and behaviours. In particular, a transformative communication skill set can reinforce social changes as a means for facilitating the identification of synergies and cross-fertilization between the climate and social justice agendas.