Neha Lal is Manager, Urban Development in the Sustainable Cities and Transport team at WRI India. Here she works on projects and research related to urban policy and governance, strategic planning, urban risk and resilience. Neha currently manages and supports projects on strategic projects, planning and land use integration policies in Delhi NCR as well mapping climate risk vulnerabilities and devising sustainable development trajectories in urbanizing city regions.

Neha joins WRI with a background in action-oriented research, academic writing, and capacity building. Neha has previously held research positions with Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, an advocacy organization and NGO working on participatory governance and habitat upgradation; Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), a research and educational institution working on sustainable urban transformation; and Observer Research Foundation, a leading policy research think tank. She has also served as an editorial team member of anthropological journal Architecture_MPS, published by UCL Press. Neha’s work has been published in Springer, Development Informatic Working paper series and MHT-SEWA research publications.

Neha holds a bachelor’s in journalism from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University. She has completed her master’s and M. Phil in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics at University of Delhi with a focus on urban sociology, land rights and governance. In 2017 she was selected as an Urban Fellow at IIHS Bangalore.

Having lived and worked in multiple Indian cities, Neha has now found her way back to Delhi where she was born and raised. She enjoys reading, gardening, travelling, and looking at maps.