Description
Migration through the Americas is a humanitarian crisis shaped by geopolitical pressures and infrastructural deficiencies. This presentation introduces a participatory design initiative that uses data visualization and machine learning to analyze spatial preferences of migrants in northern Mexico. In collaboration with Casa Monarca in Monterrey, migrants designed ideal support spaces using modular board game kits. Each configuration, documented and processed through segmentation algorithms and spatial analysis, serves as both narrative and data.
The project visualizes findings through adjacency modeling, and statistical correlation, revealing how migrants prioritize different functions. By embedding migrant agency into computational models, the research challenges top-down humanitarian design and proposes more responsive, inclusive spatial strategies. It repositions information design as a critical tool for confronting forced displacement, not through abstraction, but through evidence and engagement. This work contributes to interdisciplinary dialogues on the political and ethical dimensions of visual communication in contexts of social justice through design.
