Sarah Williams is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and the Director of the Civic Data Design Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) School of Architecture and Planning School. The Civic Data Design Lab works with data, maps, and mobile technologies to develop interactive design and communication strategies that bring urban policy issues to broader audiences.  

Trained as a Geographer (Clark University), Landscape Architect (University of Pennsylvania), and Urban Planner (MIT), Sarah's work combines geographic analysis and design. Her design work has been widely exhibited including work in the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. 

Before coming to MIT, Sarah was Co-Director of the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University’s, Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). She has won numerous awards including being named top 25 planners in the technology and 2012 Game Changer by Metropolis Magazine. 

Recent Awards

• 2012 Metropolis Magazine Game Changer
  
• 2011 Planetizen Top Thinkers in Urban Planning and Technology
  

Latest News

• 2/5/2014 - What We Can Learn by Tracking the Movement of Fashion Designers, Atlantic Cities
  
• 4/15/2013 - Sensing a Trend: A New Data Mining Resource for Bransa, Pulse Point Group
  
• 3/22/2013 - Sensoring the News, O’Reilly Radar
  
• 2/18/2013 - Data For Public Good - Talk By Sarah Williams, iHUB
  
• 2/15/2012 - Building Cities Through Social Media, UN-Habitat
  
• 4/26/2011 - Leading Thinkers in Urban Planning & Technology, Planetizen