Sarah Williams

Sarah Williams is Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning at MIT, where she directs the Civic Data Design Lab and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. She combines computation and design to make urban policy issues accessible to wider audiences and support civic change.

Her approach, which she calls Data Action, is the subject of her book published by MIT Press. She is also a co-founder and developer of Envelope.city, software for visualizing and exploring changes to New York City's zoning.

Before joining MIT, Williams co-directed Columbia University's Spatial Information Design Lab. Her design work has been exhibited at the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art, the Venice Biennale and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Across research, exhibitions and public tools, she examines how data can help people understand and influence the cities they inhabit.