DISTANCE UNKNOWN Wins Metropolis Magazine's Responsible Disruptors 2023 Award

February 16, 2023
On February 16, 2023, the Civic Data Design Lab’s DISTANCE UNKNOWN project was awarded Metropolis Magazine’s second annual Responsible Disruptors award in Architecture and Design! The Responsible Disruptors program awards projects that promote “positive disruption” in social justice, sustainability, and health through the use of technology.

DISTANCE UNKNOWN is an exhibition by the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT (CDDL) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) built from nearly 5,000 households surveyed by the WFP in Central America. An interactive map allows visitors to explore their journeys and the barriers they face along the way. The motivations of the Central American migrants are woven into a tapestry of “migrant money,” and each bill explains insights found in the data.

 

The data found in the "migrant money" was sourced from a report titled Charting a New Regional Course of Action: The Complex Motivations and Costs of Central American Migration, co-authored by the UN World Food Programme, the Migration Policy Institute, and the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT (CDDL). 

Explore the interactive website with data visualizations and key findings at migration.mit.edu .