Chiara Del Gaudio
Associate Professor
| Building: | Mackenzie |
| Department: | |
| Degrees: | 鈥hD Design (Pontif铆cia Universidade Cat贸lica do Rio de Janeiro) 鈥sc in Design and Engineering (Politecnico di Milano) 鈥A Industrial Design (Politecnico di Milano) |
| Website: |
Biography
Chiara Del Gaudio is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator at 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 School of Industrial Design. She is a designer, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of participatory and collaborative design, strategic design, and critical studies in design.
Her research examines design as a political and affective process, focusing on power, agency, conflict, and self鈥慸etermination within design practices. Drawing on feminist, decolonial, affect theory, and participatory design traditions, she investigates how design processes shape possibilities for action, belonging, and resistance, and how they can reproduce or challenge dynamics of exclusion and marginalization. Her work explores the conditions under which design can contribute to more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable societies through situated and community鈥慹ngaged research.
She holds a PhD in Design from Pontif铆cia Universidade Cat贸lica do Rio de Janeiro and graduate and undergraduate degrees in Design and Engineering and Industrial Design from Politecnico di Milano. She leads 杏吧原创鈥檚 Urban Imaginaries Lab, organized the international Participatory Design Conference in 2020 on the theme Participation(s) Otherwise, serves on its Advisory Board, and is Editor鈥慽n鈥慍hief of Design and Culture.
Research
Chiara Del Gaudio鈥檚 research critically examines design as a political, affective, and relational process. Working at the intersection of participatory design, strategic design, and critical studies in design, she investigates how power and agency are distributed, constrained, and negotiated within design processes, and how participation shapes possibilities for self鈥慸etermination. Her work analyzes both the emancipatory potential and the limits of collaborative and participatory approaches, paying particular attention to dynamics of inclusion, exclusion, resistance, and normativity in design practice. Her research is grounded in applied and situated inquiry and often develops through long鈥憈erm engagement with communities and institutions.
Selected Links:
- Urban Imaginaries Lab:
- Design and Culture (Journal):
- Google Scholar:
- ORCID: