Rachel Fischer

Rachel Fischer is an urban planner and educator passionate about leveraging the built environment to create more equitable, inclusive spaces and communities. Before Harvard, Rachel worked as a college counselor and educator, experiences that grounded her interdisciplinary, people-centered approach to community engagement and placemaking. Last summer, she led the Mystic Greenways Asset Inventory Project with the Mystic River Watershed Association.

Rachel holds bachelor’s degrees in architecture from Barnard College and in modern Jewish studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She recently completed her Master in Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Outside of her professional life, Rachel enjoys creating art, flipping and tumbling on the gymnastics floor, and exploring the outdoors.

Initial Fellowship Focus: The fellow will expand opportunities for residents to both reduce their own carbon emissions and to inform upcoming decisions, such as how to spend the proceeds of a future sustainability bond.