We are part of the Partnership for Research on Informal and Shared Mobility, a global consortium supported by Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) and led by Columbia University’s Climate School’s Center for Sustainable Urban Development. PRISM focuses on building data, evidence and a better understanding of how ISM and the people that work and rely on them might be better supported, invested in and integrated into planning and investment in cities and regions.

The consortium includes four research centers in the US, South Africa, Colombia, and Thailand, along with leading researchers in Ghana and the UK, as well as four non-governmental organizations based in the US, China, India, and Costa Rica. The consortium’s program, “An Equity, Ecosystems and En­gaged Approach to Informal Transport and Shared Mobility,” offers a collaborative, grassroots approach to knowledge creation by establishing “living labs” in eight cities: Accra, Bangkok, Beijing, Bogotá, Cape Town, Kumasi, Mumbai, and the Metropolitan Are of San José.