AHN Chaewon

Assistant Professor Chaewon Ahn is an urban researcher who studies the relationship between social systems and the built environment using urban data and analytical frameworks.

Her research interests are formed through academic and professional experiences in architecture, urban design, data visualisation, and urban studies. Her research focuses on social networks and communities in cities; their relationship to the structure of the built environment; and the influences of urban planning programmes that engage them. She uses analytical skills to conduct data driven analysis that primarily focuses on big data, participatory data collection, spatial analysis and social network analysis to expose persistent issues of power in urban development processes.

Trained as an architect, urban designer and data visualisation designer, Asst Prof Ahn holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from MIT. She has worked with various research laboratories at MIT including the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism, the Civic Data Design Lab, the MIT Election and Data Science Lab, the JTL Urban Mobility Lab and the Senseable City Lab.