Recent Harvard Graduate School of Design graduates Facundo Soraire (MUP ’26) and Alessandra Rodriguez (MUP ’26) are part of the Harvard–MIT team behind VISIBLE, a startup that received the Social Impact Award in the 2026 MITdesignX accelerator program.
VISIBLE is a data-driven platform that helps local governments make more informed decisions about informal settlements by integrating satellite imagery, census records, housing data, infrastructure networks, and other sources into a single, decision-ready view of the urban landscape. The platform enables planners to identify urban growth, detect service gaps, estimate infrastructure needs, and prioritize interventions, supporting more timely and equitable public investment and urban policy.
The venture was recognized for its potential to advance equitable community development through data-driven urban planning and governance. “VISIBLE was born from a shared belief that better data can lead to better decisions for communities that have historically been overlooked,” said Soraire. “By combining technology, spatial analysis, and local knowledge, we hope to make informal settlements more visible in planning and policymaking across Latin America.”
MITdesignX is an entrepreneurship accelerator that helps teams anchored at MIT transform human-centered design ideas into viable ventures. The 2026 cohort included 12 teams developing solutions for challenges related to the built environment, housing, and urban data.
VISIBLE’s recognition highlights the value of cross-institutional collaboration, bringing together expertise from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and MIT to address pressing urban challenges in underserved communities.