Gonzalo Portas is an Industrial Designer, educator and researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, where his work explores the intersection of industrial design, urbanism and emerging technologies to create healthier, more inclusive and evidence-informed public environments.
His research investigates how design interventions can generate new knowledge about public life by combining participatory co-design with behavioural observation, computer vision and environmental sensing. Working across design, urban planning and data science, he develops methods for evaluating how public spaces perform after implementation and how design can contribute to safer, more equitable and climate-responsive cities.
At MIT, Gonzalo is a Visiting Scholar with the Civic Data Design Lab and the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU), collaborating with Associate Professor Sarah Williams on the Benchmark and Sensing Public Life projects. His current research focuses on AI-enabled approaches to understanding public life, designing inclusive public spaces, and developing open, evidence-based methodologies that connect industrial design, urban analytics and civic innovation.
His work has been recognised through the Australian Good Design Awards and is undertaken in collaboration with government, industry and international research partners to translate design research into measurable public impact.
