Zeenat Niazi is Programme Director for Habitat at Development Alternatives (DA), a non-profit organization creating large-scale sustainable livelihoods in India since 1983.

She works extensively in the field of habitat processes and housing technology, and undertook several projects in both normal and post-disaster situations favoring the dissemination of large-scale environmentally-friendly housing technology in rural and urban areas of India. She designed and supported Ashraya’s project of houses reconstruction in the aftermath of Cyclone Orissa. The project was nominated in the “best practice” category at the 2002 Dubai International Awards.

Zeenat Niazi studied architecture at the School of Planning & Architecture (SPA), New Delhi, and McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

She has supervised three post-Tsunami rehabilitation projects in south India. Through her involvement within several programs and knowledge platforms, she is devoted to the decision-making and selection of appropriate construction systems by stakeholders of habitat projects, especially for rural housing.

She is co-author of Participatory Rural Habitat Process: Emerging Trends (2004), Framework for a Rural Habitat Policy for India: Responding to Needs of the Rural Poor (2005) and The National Rural Housing and Habitat Policy for India (2007) – a proposal to the government of India.

Zeenat Niazi was a member of the Holcim Awards regional jury for Asia Pacific in 2008.