PHOTO: ADELAIDE ZOLLINGER
“It’s about creating a meaningful impact in people’s lives,” she says. A Fulbright Fellow from Argentina pursuing a master’s degree in city planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), Chiappero is a 2024 MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD) Design Fellow.
She sees digital technology as a means to build community while giving a voice to those on the margins in the developing world. “I’m trying to work for communities that may not have the capacity to build digital tools, and to contribute to their efforts in data activism, economic development, social inclusion, and public-space participation,” she says.
“A say and a direct voice”
Chiappero was part of an Institute team that launched a social venture called ONE Community, with the aim of providing a digital network for small businesses in an informal settlement called Dharavi, in Mumbai, India, which is facing a redevelopment project that would wipe the settlement from the map. ONE Community devised an app that would enable shop owners and vendors in Dharavi who had relied on person-to-person interaction in the old neighborhood to stay connected with customers and with each other. It was a finalist in the 2024 MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge Virtual Showcase presented by the MIT Solve initiative, and among the 2024 cohort at MITdesignX.
Previously, Chiappero developed a web platform to promote increased citizen participation in decision-making on projects impacting public spaces and infrastructure in Cordoba, Argentina. “This digital tool was designed to give people a say and a direct voice,” she said. “It instilled a sense of ownership in the community because people were able to be involved in the feedback and testing process from the very beginning.”
In an October 2024 article for the MIT online publication The Public Interest Technologist, “Flipping the Script: How AI Can be Used for Social Justice in Latin America,” Chiappero notes that many people in Latin American countries participate in “informal economies” that operate outside official regulations and are not captured by traditional data collection systems. Established AI models are trained on data that do not represent the lived experience of these informal economic communities, she writes.
She makes a case for a collaborative research approach in which members of underserved communities “actively participate in gathering data that reflect their realities.” AI has “immense potential to drive positive change in cities and communities, if leveraged correctly,” she writes.
Inspired by community
Chiappero, who earned a bachelor’s in architecture from the National University of Cordoba, is currently a research assistant in the Data + Feminism Lab within DUSP and a fellow of the MIT Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center.
“When I am thinking about what I am going to do next or what I want to do in my society, if I have a voice, I will not take that for granted, and will try to use it for a good cause or a good movement,” she says.
Her own cultural background inspires her work. “I was born in a rural town in Argentina called Villa del Rosario and was not surrounded by highly academic people or exposed to academia at all. But I always had my mom, my sisters, and my friends, the most hardworking people I know. I worked hard from a young age to earn scholarships.
“I have in my heart a bunch of hardworking people who are my core foundation. That’s what shaped me. Perhaps somebody will read this article and say, ‘OK, I’m from Latin America, too. I also can be at MIT. I can contact Sofia.’ I want to build that.”
She sees MIT as a place of great opportunity. “I feel super inspired by my professors, my mentors, and by every single one of my classmates,” Chiappero says. “They’re truly amazing, doing work that is impactful and meaningful. I’m very thankful to MIT for all the opportunities I have.
“There are people from all around the world here who are trying their best to create new things for a better world. We are truly valuable. If you walk through the halls at MIT, you will see a vibrant tapestry of colors and cultures. This diversity of voices is what the USA is truly about.”
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