Data Clouds
Mapping the unseen city
Data Clouds
Informal settlements house over one billion people worldwide; yet their complex, ever-evolving structures remain difficult to map using traditional methods. LiDAR scanning technology offers a new perspective, capturing the spatial intricacies and organic growth of these communities. Focusing on Vidigal, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Data Clouds reveals how technology can document, analyze, and improve informal settlements.
Inspired by SCL’s Favelas 4D, Data Clouds is one of Senseable City Rio’s projects.
Data Clouds was first presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Team
Carlo Ratti – Director
Coordination
Martina Mazzarello
Fabio Duarte
Research
Chang Liu – Co-lead
Stefania Dimitrov – Co-lead
Kee Moon Jang
Website
Diego Morra
Visualization
Journey & Senseable City Lab
Publication
Liu, C., Jang, KM., Dimitrov, S., Barbalho, CL., Duarte, F., Ratti, C. (2025) Unveiling the internal structures of informal settlements through AI-driven automated segmentation of LiDAR data. npj Urban Sustainability.
Dimitrov, S., Duarte, F., Barbalho, CL., Ferreira, SM., Ratti, C., Alvim, A. (2026) Evaluation of Lidar devices and data to conduct terrestrial surveys in favelas.
The material on this website can be used freely in any publication provided that:
1. it is duly credited as a project by the MIT Senseable City Lab.
2. a PDF copy of the publication is sent to senseable-press@mit.edu.
In collaboration with
For more information
senseable-contacts@mit.edu