Jota Samper

Jota Samper is an architect and planner whose work focuses on sustainable urban growth, informal settlements, and violent urban conflict. Through his Informal Settlements Research (ISR), he develops tools to visualize the climatic, regulatory, and social challenges of informal landscapes. For nearly two decades, he has collaborated with marginalized communities and international students to co-design infrastructure projects. Samper directs the Community Engagement, Design, and Research Center (CEDaR). Born and raised in Medellín, he earned a BA in Architecture from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a master’s and Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from MIT, where he also taught. His project Living Rooms at the Border, with estudio teddy cruz, was exhibited at MoMA. In 2024, he received the Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium. His Atlas of Informality has reached a global audience of over 1.6 million through his TEDx talk.