Magda Maaoui

Magda Maaoui is an assistant professor of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center. In her previous role as planner and research associate at the Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme, Paris’s planning agency, and as an external expert consultant for the OECD, Dr. Maaoui oversaw projects that focus on curbing environmental and public health inequality through urban development. She also evaluated strategies for the preservation and creation of affordable housing including adaptive reuse, infill densification, inclusionary zoning, fair-share mandates, and rent stabilization. In her work at the Center, she focused on policy-relevant, actionable findings for legislators, planners, and advocacy organizations eager to rethink land use systems.

Magda holds a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University. She has contributed to the books Zoning: a Guide for 21st-Century Planning (2020), Habiter l’Indépendance (2022), Pour en finir avec le petit Paris (2024), the critical comparative planning encyclopedia Nos Lieux Communs (2024), and the book Renée Gailhoustet (2026). Her research has been featured in popular news sources and in campaigns for good governance and affordable housing provision reform in France and in the United States. She has written or co-written peer-reviewed articles for the Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Housing Studies, Urban Studies and the Berkeley Planning Journal.