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The Steger Residency offers faculty in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (AAD) a unique opportunity to live and study at the Steger Center for International Scholarship in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland.

Luis Borunda's project, "Al-Driven Accessibility for Inclusive Smart Cities" proposes to study the following: 

"Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (Al), robotics, and augmented reality (AR) hold transformative potential for more accessible and intelligent urban environments. Yet underrepresented groups are often excluded from datasets; our approach addresses this through participatory co-design that ensures fair representation and scalable Al solutions. At Virginia Tech, our Al Tourism Team has developed prototypes in Al-driven spatial recognition and AR interfaces for accessibility and smart tourism. The next step is to test these in real-world settings, scaling prototypes for field research and integrating global expertise. The Steger Center for International Scholarship provides lecture rooms, studios, student housing, and access to diverse urban and historical sites, making it an ideal base for this research. Its proximity to world-class Al institutions strengthens this potential: ETH and USI are internationally recognized for geometric and visual computing, while the City of Lugano's Living Lab offers an urban testbed where citizens, companies, and researchers co-create digital solutions. Together with the Steger Center's global reach and confirmed technical support, these resources provide an opportunity to advance Al-based accessibility solutions in an international context.

This recognition reinforces our ongoing efforts to make design more inclusive through Al and spatial technologies. With the support of the Pamplin DUO+ Seed Grant and Team, Meta Reality Labs, and @LuganoLivingLab, we're advancing our Tourism Without Barriers initiative, exploring how contextual Al can enhance inclusive design, tourism, and civic experience through cross-sector collaboration." - Assistant Professor Luis Borunda