Recognizing a need to strengthen the ties between urban policymaking and scholarly work on urban development, and to disseminate evidence-based programming, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Comparative Urban Studies Project, USAID’s Urban Programs Team, the International Housing Coalition, Cities Alliance, and the World Bank came together in 2010 to co-sponsor an academic paper competition for graduate students studying urban issues. The success of the 2010 competition led to the expansion of the competition in 2011 and publication of the top papers. In this third year, the focus is on three topics: climate change, youth, and land markets. A panel of urban experts representing the sponsoring institutions reviewed over 70 abstract submissions, from which 15 were invited to write full-length papers. Of these, eight were selected for this publication.