MIT Senseable City Lab

From the Senseable Archives

This week, we’re revisiting Data Clouds, a project that explored how technology can reveal the hidden structures of informal settlements.
Traditional maps often miss the complexity of these rapidly evolving communities. By using LiDAR technology to capture their spatial form, Data Clouds offers a new way to document, understand, and sustain more inclusive urban development.

What stories are hidden in places we can’t fully see?

🔗 Learn more at senseable.mit.edu/data-clouds-global


Image credits: Journey

Join the MIT Senseable City Lab.

We’re building the future of cities through data, AI, design, and technology.

 5 global labs
 4 continents
 180+ projects
 600+ publications

Ready to make an impact?
🔗 Visit the link in our bio to learn more.

🌍 We’re honored that the Senseable City Global Labs have received an Honorable Mention in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards, recognizing bold initiatives addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Built on collaborations between MIT researchers and city partners in Amsterdam, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, and Seoul, our Global Labs bring cutting-edge scientific methods directly to urban challenges. By combining local expertise with innovative research, our Global Labs serve as living models to test and develop new ways to understand and improve cities worldwide.

Thank you to our partners at AMS Institute, Dubai Future Foundation, Seoul AI Foundation, and Rio’s Secretary of Science and Technology for making this work possible.


Global Labs Lead: Martina Mazzarello
Senseable City Amsterdam Lead: Titus Venverloo
Senseable City Dubai Lead: Alaa AlRadwan
Senseable City Rio Lead: Cassiano Bastos Moroz
Senseable City Seoul Lead: Suzan Ayas

A decade in and we’re just getting started.
We’re proud to continue our collaboration with , building on years of joint research—including the iconic .tech project, now its own startup—as we head into the next five years of big ideas, big data, and urban innovation.

🔔 Join our research team shaping urban futures: Senseable is recruiting internationally! 🌏

Visit senseable.mit.edu for full list of open positions and to apply.

Questions? Contact [email protected]

The MIT Senseable City Lab is co-hosting a biodiversity mapping event at Carré Laval, the future site of a new urban park & innovation area 🌎. We’re looking for Canada-based volunteers to help crowdsource data on local plants & insects using the ObsIdentify app.

Please sign up here: forms.gle/HtgwZqLQbfnsC6sCA, or scan the QR below.

Friday, Sept 26 2025
Two sessions: 10:30–12:00 & 2:30–4:00 (join one or both!)
Bring your smartphone with ObsIdentify installed

Come explore, document, and shape the future of this green space with us!

There is a strong Senseable presence at the 19th International Conference on Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management in London! Here, a few former Senseables grabbed dinner post-conference. Great to see so many of our Labbies together!

Left to right: Maosu, Winston, Rohit, Tom, Cate, Arianna, Yuan, and Minwook, who is not SCL, but MIT LCAU!

🍃Re-Leaf🍃 transforms tree distribution data in Amsterdam, Dubai, Los Angeles, and Rome, into dynamic “green skyscrapers”: physical models that allow visitors to intuitively compare vegetation density across very different climates and urban forms.

We are excited to see this exhibition come to life in just about a week!

Blending physical and digital experiences, Data Clouds challenges audiences to rethink these communities—not as marginalized spaces, but as vital, evolving environments born from human resilience and ingenuity.