Manal Zia

Manal Zia is an architect, designer, urban planner and a social entrepreneur currently pursuing a Masters in City Planning (MCP) at MIT. Her dedication to shaping resilient and inclusive urban environments is profoundly influenced by her experiences as an Indian Muslim woman. She is also the founder of a social startup named My Sister’s Keeper aimed at empowering Muslim immigrant women in the United States. Her work focuses on urban development post disasters and conflicts with participatory design methodologies within marginalized communities, aiming to integrate resilience and inclusivity in the built environments of India and the Middle East.

At MIT, she is currently researching with Prof. Delia Wendel on peace building and reparative planning and is part of the 'Planning for Peace Collective'