Ms. Natália da Silveira Arruda

Natália da Silveira Arruda is a Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Planning at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University. Her research focuses on transit-oriented development, land use and transportation integration, and procedural justice in participatory planning. She explores applications of natural language processing (NLP) to evaluate planning documents, public engagement, and participatory mapping practices.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Natália was an Assistant Professor at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, where she co-founded GeoLab, a research laboratory on participatory mapping and GIS. She has led and collaborated on multiple international projects in Latin America and Africa, applying open mapping, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and free and open-source geospatial technologies to sustainable mobility, coastal resilience, and climate adaptation.
An active leader within the YouthMappers network, she served as Regional Ambassador for Colombia and Brazil (2019–2021) and currently serves as Secretary of the ASU chapter. She has delivered numerous workshops and webinars on open mapping, reaching hundreds of students across Latin America. Her work has been recognized with the AAUW International Fellowship and multiple awards for global engagement and leadership.