Huma Gupta

Huma Gupta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at MIT, affiliated with the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and the History, Theory & Criticism group. She holds a PhD and Master’s in City Planning from MIT. Her research examines hierarchies in urban systems, climate crises, and decolonial ecologies, with a focus on Iraq’s architectural and urban history. Gupta’s first book, The Architecture of Dispossession, explores state-building through migrant housing in mid-20th century Iraq. She has contributed to policy advocacy on land rights and humanitarian housing. Her courses include Climate Futures, Cities Past and Decolonial Ecologies.

Education:

• PhD in History and Theory of Architecture, MIT
• Master’s in City Planning, MIT

Research Interests:

• Urban hierarchies and their dismantling
• Climate displacement and architectural resilience
• Decolonizing environmental narratives
• Marshland ecologies and indigenous knowledge

Key Projects:

• Documentary film She Was Not Alone (2025 premiere), centering an Iraqi nomad’s resistance to displacement.
• Exhibition Iraq: Beyond the Two Rivers (2023), blending art and architectural research.

Awards and Recognition:

• Final Cut Lab Award (Venice Film Festival)
• IDFA and Doha Film Institute Grants
• Multiple research fellowships

Grants and Collaborations:

• Humanitarian housing advocacy with UN agencies
• Fieldwork in Syria, Afghanistan, and Boston
• Multidisciplinary teaching in architecture and environmental studies

Labs/Teams:

• MIT’s Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism
• Documentary collaborations with filmmakers like Hussein al-Asadi