Alexandra Sanyal is pursuing her Masters in Design Studies in the field of Critical Conservation, at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Her work revolves around constructed narratives of heritage and investigates the tensions between progress and tradition and the union of urban identity, preservation, and politics in post-colonial countries, particularly India. She seeks to answer how, why, and under whose hegemony does historic preservation occur by scrutinizing conflicting institutions and ideologies of power. Largely, her research aims to understand socio-political arcs of cultural coexistence in Indian cities and beyond.