Life here, on the edge of the desert is rapidly changing – hot, dense, multicultural and deprived of essential resources – a reality in many cities, and a potential future for countless others. The mission of the Negev Urban Research - a collaboration between Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, MIT Media Lab and Sami Shamoon school of Architecture - is to study these changes through the lens of digital information and deploy scalable solutions for arid human settlement in the region and beyond.