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About

The MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab is a research and development laboratory for the built environment that measures the financial and economic performance of innovation in real estate, design and planning.

Research Pillars Empirical Outcome Fundamental Research

The Innovation Frontier

Empirical Outcome
Measuring value across the innovation lifecycle
A real estate technology lifecycle to measure progress and technological diffusion
Fundamental Research
Identifying products, processes & technology for real estate

The Value of Design

Empirical Outcome
Research on design metrics
Linking design to financial and economic outcomes
Fundamental Research
Identifying pathways for linking design to finance
Incorporating designers into financial

CRE Tech and Innovation

Empirical Outcome
Financial performance of technology startups in the built environment
Autonomous technologies impact on the future of real estate
Fundamental Research
Technologies for the built environment database and analytics
New data sets and variables scouting

Entrepreneurship for Cities Places & People

Empirical Outcome
Linking entrepreneurship performance to places
Entrepreneurial nursery at the building scale
Fundamental Research
A shared place typology underwriting for real estate
The role of real estate in economic growth

Wide Data Experiment

Empirical Outcome
The expansion architectural and planning data applicable to instituional resl estate
3000 + variables
20 data providers
96 data sets
Fundamental Research
Data science and machine learning strategies for real estate
A geometric, geospatial, relational database infrastructure

Team

Our team is a community of innovators within MIT's School of Architecture and Planning. A collection of interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners from the wider real estate, financial economics, econometrics, urban planning and architecture domains.

Ziyu Ran
Technology Scout
Photo ofZiyu Ran Photo ofZiyu Ran
Yuehan Wang
Technology Scout
Photo ofYuehan Wang Photo ofYuehan Wang
Wendy Wu
Research Assistant
Photo ofWendy Wu Photo ofWendy Wu
Varun Kumar
Research Analyst
Photo ofVarun Kumar Photo ofVarun Kumar
Tony Yang
Computational Urban Designer
Photo ofTony Yang Photo ofTony Yang
Sunnie Park
Technology Analyst
Photo ofSunnie Park Photo ofSunnie Park
Steve Weikal
CRE Technology and Innovation Lead
Photo ofSteve Weikal Photo ofSteve Weikal
Diego Fernandez
Research Analyst
Photo ofDiego Fernandez Photo ofDiego Fernandez
Natasha Sadikin
Research Analyst
Photo ofNatasha Sadikin Photo ofNatasha Sadikin
James Scott
Technology Scouting Lead
Photo ofJames Scott Photo ofJames Scott
Helena Rong
Computational Urban Designer
Photo ofHelena Rong Photo ofHelena Rong
Greg the Persian cat
Lab Mascot
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Gabrielle Finear
Data Science and Machine Learning Analyst
Photo ofGabrielle Finear Photo ofGabrielle Finear
Dr. Irmak Turan
Computational Urban Designer
Photo ofDr. Irmak Turan Photo ofDr. Irmak Turan
Professor David Geltner
Professor of Real Estate Finance
Photo ofProfessor David Geltner Photo ofProfessor David Geltner
Professor Dennis Frenchman
Professor of Urban Design and Planning
Photo ofProfessor Dennis Frenchman Photo ofProfessor Dennis Frenchman
Erin Glennon
Lab Manager
Photo ofErin Glennon Photo ofErin Glennon
Dr. Andrea Chegut
Lab Director and Financial Economist
Photo ofDr. Andrea Chegut Photo ofDr. Andrea Chegut
Alina Nazmeeva
Research Analyst
Photo ofAlina Nazmeeva Photo ofAlina Nazmeeva
Minkoo Kang
Research Analyst
Photo ofMinkoo Kang Photo ofMinkoo Kang

Team Alumni

Zoya Puri
Researcher (2017 -2017)
Zixiao Yin
Computational Planner (2018 -2018)
YiFei Lu
Researcher (2016 -2016)
Yair Titelboim
Urban Tech Analyst (2017 -2019)
Xudong Sun
Computational Data Engineer (2018 -2020)
Stephanie Zhou
Technology Scouting Analyst (2019 -2019)
Sebastian Serralde
Urban Tech Analyst (2018 -2019)
Dr. Schery Bokhari
Researcher (2016 -2017)
Sam Weissman
postition (2018 -2018)
Ryan Stroud
Researcher (2017 -2018)
Ruichen Ni
Technology Analyst (2019 -2020)
Rhett James
Technology Scout (2019 -2020)
Qianhui Liang
Urban Data Science Analyst (2019 -2020)
Phoebe Holtzman
Researcher (2017 -2018)
Paige Pitcher
Researcher (2017 -2017)
Nicholas Bolland
position (2017 -2017)
Mike Langen
Researcher (2018 -2019)
Max Beatty
Technology Scout (2019 -2020)
Lucy Lyuaio
Researcher (2018 -2019)
Louis Liss
Researcher (2017 -2018)
Kun Cheng
Technology Analyst (2019 -2020)
Keitaro Bando
Researcher (2017 -2018)
Kecheng Huang
Technology Scout (2020 -2020)
Kaini Huang
Researcher (2018 -2019)
Jordan Owen
Technology Analyst (2019 -2020)
Jim Peraino
User Analyst (2019 -2020)
Hunter Fields
Data Science and Analytics (2018 -2019)
Daniel Fink
Wide Data Experiment Lead (2015 -2019)
Chelsea Watanabe
Data Analyst (2019 -2019)
Ben Masselink
Technology Scout (2019 -2019)
Annie Ryan
Researcher (2015 -2017)

Vision

Our goal is aligned with our community, we want to build a better built environment. Our principal contribution is in identifying innovations, products and processes that will transform buildings and cities, but we pair this with performance outcomes that can give agency to technology, design and financial investors for incentive alignment.

engage

This benefits communities by enabling metrics for decision making in planning, real estate and design that can aid analytics-based design reviews, planning and investment committees to make better buildings and cities for people.

Support Us

Becoming a Lab Partner

The Lab is grateful to founding partners for their generous support. Financial support is provided by JLL, RCA and EY, who contribute funding in exchange for knowledge, receiving lab research in advance and one-on-one workshops or webinars. This provides the basis for continuous engagement in an increasingly digital and dynamic built environment.

Share Data With Us

Data is the foundation of the Lab's mission. We develop and design new infrastructure protocols for integrating data across geometry, geography, financial, economic and social data. We are grateful to our data supporters for providing fundamental data for our research and educational programs. If you would like to contribute data or learn more, please contact reilabcontact@mit.edu.

Learn With Us

Workshop

Learning is core to the Lab's research dissemination strategy. We work with lab and data partners to develop curriculum that meets their needs. However, we also work other firms, foundations and educational institutions to develop one or multi-day workshops that resolve issues. From urban data infrastructure, automation strategies to the impending building technology we are always working towards creating a better built environment. If you would like to schedule a workshop or discuss developing a program for you, please contact reilabcontact@mit.edu.

Sponsored Research

Sponsored research is an opportunity for the Lab to engage in research directly on an issue or topic relevant to you, contact reilabcontact@mit.edu to learn more.