Maya Desai

Maya Mahgoub-Desai is an Associate Professor and former Chair of Environmental Design at OCAD University, and adjunct faculty in the Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, at Queen's University. Her work brings together architecture, urbanism, culture, and health, informed by both research and lived experience with disability. She examines how built environments shape health and well-being through their relationships with social and cultural systems, with a particular focus on access, care, and climate resilience as foundations for more just and livable communities.

Her interdisciplinary research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program, and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation Spark Program. Her early scholarship on environmental futures and emerging technologies received the Architectural Research Centers Consortium King Medal and was shortlisted for the Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners.

Alongside her academic work, Maya is a Senior Urban Designer and Planner at Moriyama Teshima Architects, where she has led campus, community, and municipal master planning and design projects across Canada and the Middle East. Her practice brings a community-centred and climate-responsive approach to urban design, emphasizing social inclusion, cultural context, and meaningful engagement. Her work has included master planning and advisory services for Waterfront Toronto, Qatar’s Education City, the Surrey City Development Corporation, the Town of Whitby, and post-secondary institutions including the University of Lethbridge, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College.

Maya also contributes to professional, research, and advocacy communities as Co-Chair of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Promoting Equity and Justice Committee, a patient research partner and advocate with University Health Network, and an executive member of Building Equality in Architecture Toronto, recipient of the 2024 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Advocate for Architecture Award.

Outside of her professional work, she is a curious traveller and photographer who finds joy in music and dance, and in observing the rhythms, expressions, and hidden choreographies of everyday life across urban spaces and the natural world.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Architecture; urban design and planning; built environment and health; health equity; disability inclusion; climate-responsive design; socio-cultural urbanism; ecosystem health; environmental futures; and emerging technologies.