Letizia Chiappini is a PhD candidate in Urban Studies (UrbEur Doctorate) at the University of Milan-Bicocca and in the Geographies of Globalization (GoG) research group at the University of Amsterdam (joint doctorate). Her research interests revolve around urban transformations and societal changes under digital capitalism. 

In her PhD research, she proposes the concept of ‘urban digital platform’ as a theoretical lens to analyse digital platforms oriented to support grassroots initiatives and citizen engagement. Such as civic crowdfunding and complementary welfare platforms. It is a comparative analysis based on four years of fieldwork in Milan and Amsterdam. In particular, the research project attends to the ways in which a diverse set of differentially situated urban actors are able to influence processes of policymaking in the two cities. As such the project is positioned within the broad field of urban political economy. In other ongoing projects, she investigates the maker movement, crafting, digital fabrication and making more broadly (e.g. makerspace) as an alternative mode and space of production, starting from initial empirical engagement in Milan.

Research for her master thesis focused on smart city discourse and participatory processes in urban governance. She holds a BA in literature and philosophy (University of Parma), and a MA in sociology and social research (University of Milan-Bicocca, co-supervised with Aalborg University, Denmark).