Civic Data Design Lab is a project out of MIT’s Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning, that focuses on how data-based visuals and tools can be used to improve citizenship — and citizens’ relations with the government.

From their site:

The Civic Data Design Lab works with data to understand it for public good. We seek to develop alternative practices which can make the work we do with data and images richer, smarter, more relevant, and more responsive to the needs and interests of citizens traditionally on the margins of policy development. In this practice we experiment with and develop data visualization and collection tools that allow us to highlight urban phenomena. Our methods borrow from the traditions of science and design by using spatial analytics to expose patterns and communicating those results, through design, to new audiences.

Some of the projects they’ve created:

Note that some have more distinct connections to legal practice and policy, including the Prisoner Re-Entry & Work Project, and the Civic Data Management project.

Here are some of the visuals they’ve produced with data they’ve gathered: