DDL Urban Growth Center Documentation

The platform is produced by Development Data Lab (DDL).

Where to start#

Read the Urban Boundaries 2026 article first — it defines the problem we are trying to solve and our approach to it. The full technical methodology paper is forthcoming.

Concepts — Understand how cities are defined, what administrative splits are, and how datasets relate at different levels of granularity.

Datasets — Find the authoritative reference for each dataset: source, method, schema, joins, caveats and citations.

Releases — Versioned changelog of all published dataset packages.

Use the Explorer to browse city-level data interactively, and the Data catalog to see coverage and download the files.

Citation#

Cite Urban Growth Center alongside the original paper or data source listed on each dataset page.

Feedback#

To report data issues, request new cities or measures, or leave general feedback, contact the DDL team at info@devdatalab.org.