Sharon Ayalon is an architect, artist, curator, and researcher. As a
Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell Tech, her current research focuses
on visualizations and simulations to achieve social impact in planning.
Currently, she has focused on mapping NYC social distancing stories
through interactive maps that aggregate people’s stories about living in
the city during the COVID-19 pandemic. The maps combine individual
stories with big data and content analysis. In addition, to harness
technology to elicit social change, she has developed a Digital Twin for
Roosevelt Island with a focus on equity and social justice. The digital
twin integrates a 3D that can be scrolled back into history or fast
forward into a simulated future as the first step towards an Urban
Displacement Simulator.
Her Ph.D. explored the linkage between urbanism and art and how
local identity, spatial (in)justice, and social (ex-in)clusion are forged or
deconstructed by artistic activity in cities. This research was awarded
the President of Israel’s Grant for Scientific Excellence and Innovation.
Her work has been published in leading international peer-reviewed
journals such as The Journal of Urban Design, City and Community, The Journal of Urban Affairs, and Cultural Sociology.
With a background as an architect, she combines her research interest
with creating art installations, performances, and curatorial practice.
She received her Ph.D. from the Architecture and Town Planning
faculty at the Technion IIT, where she graduated summa cum laude
BArch and MSc. Ayalon also served as the curator of the PeKA
Gallery for experimental art at the Technion, Israel, and as the curator
of the Gitai Architecture Museum in Haifa, Israel. At the Technion, she
co-founded art.espionage, the Experimental Art and Architecture Lab.