Since August 2010, ICOS team started implementing Urban Labs in the Formiga Community of Rio de Janeiro. This project has the support of the local Pacification Police Unit (UPP), recently established.

The project aims to outline the community through a diagnosis, to identify the singularities of the community and to developing, within the neighbourhood population, a new understanding of their role as citizens. Finally, the objective is to use the Labs as a tool to boost the skills of active and autonomous participation of the community in building their own solutions.

After the completion of this project, ICOS intends to escalate the Labs in other pacified communities in Rio de Janeiro, in cooperation with the UPP in each region.