Abdul-Razak Zachariah (he/him/his) is a community educator and urban planner originally from West Haven, CT. Abdul currently serves as the Deputy Director of Zoning for the City of New Haven City Plan Department where he collaborates with staff on zoning reform strategy and the administration of land use regulations. He previously worked as an urban planner for the City of Boston Planning Department as part of the Zoning Reform team where he managed and supported initiatives to legalize childcare spaces citywide, increase mixed-use and multifamily housing development near neighborhood centers, and support community and youth education efforts on urban planning topics. Before that, he completed master’s degree programs in education and urban planning at Harvard University, where he also worked in roles related to participatory research with youth activists in New England, land use education in New York City, and public memory work on community activism in Boston. Trained in the fields of urban planning, participatory action research, and youth work (including previous work at LEAP in New Haven), his experiences and interests center on regulatory pathways for housing and economic stabilization as well as collective approaches to achieving multi-generational community wealth building and well-being.

Outside of work, Abdul is a children’s writer and spends a lot of time thinking about ways to use arts, cultural education, visual media, workshops, and material development to help young people and those who steward spaces for them in understanding how they can shape the future of their built and social environments.