Nikil Saval (born December 27, 1982) is an American magazine editor, writer, organizer, activist, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represents the 1st district in the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

Early life and education

Saval was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, to parents from

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and grew up in

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped ...

. He graduated from Columbia College of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with a B.A. in 2005 and received a Ph.D. in English from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2014.

Writing career

Saval was a co-editor of ''

n+1 N1, N.I, N-1, N=1, or N01 may refer to: Information technology * Nokia N1, an Android tablet * Nexus One, an Android phone made by HTC * Nylas N1, a desktop email client * Oppo N1, an Android phone * N1, a Sun Microsystems software brand now ...

'', as well as a contributor to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', covering architecture and design. As of May 2025, he is an emeritus board member and contributing editor for ''n+1''. In his 2014 book ''Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace'', Saval traces the evolution of the

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

workplace, from 19th-century counting houses to modern

cubicles A cubicle is a partially enclosed office workspace that is separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions that are usually tall. Its purpose is to isolate office workers and managers from the sights and noises of an open workspace so that ...

, exploring how these workplaces—and the lives of the workers within them—can be improved. The book was named a ''New York Times'' notable book of 2014. Saval's sophomore effort, ''Rage in Harlem: June Jordan and Architecture'', was released in 2024, exploring the collaboration between writer and activist

June Jordan June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation. Jordan was passionate about using Black English ...

and architect and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller to re-conceptualize

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

following the Harlem race riot of 1964, focusing on Jordan's "Skyrise for Harlem" proposal. The proposal featured the construction of fifteen 100-story conical

skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

housing 500,000 people. The work originated from a talk Saval delivered at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

and was co-published with the institution and Sternberg Press. Saval is currently working on a book entitled ''Everything is Architecture'', an analysis of the politics of industrial design.

Political career

Activism

Saval was a co-founder of

Reclaim Philadelphia Reclaim Philadelphia is an American progressive activist group based in the city of Philadelphia. Strongly associated with the 501(c)(4) group Pennsylvania Stands Up, Reclaim was founded out of the structures created by the Bernie Sanders 2016 pr ...

, an organization that formed out of the

Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign In the 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sought the Democratic Party's nomination in a field of six major candidates and was the runner up with 46% of the pledged delegates behind former Secretary of State Hillary Cli ...

. His group helped elect

Larry Krasner Lawrence Samuel Krasner (born March 30, 1961) is an American lawyer who is the 26th District Attorney of Philadelphia. Elected to the position in 2017, Krasner was one of the first U.S. district attorney candidates to run as a self-described " ...

district attorney of Philadelphia The office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia is the largest prosecutor's office in the state of Pennsylvania and oversees a jurisdiction that includes more than 1.5 million citizens of both the city and county of Philadelphia. The curre ...

. In 2018, Saval became the Ward Leader of Philadelphia's 2nd Ward.

Pennsylvania State Senate

In 2020, he challenged Democratic incumbent

Larry Farnese Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. (born June 1, 1968) is an American attorney and politician. He was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania Senate where he represented the 1st District from 2009 until November 30, 2020. Farnese was the Democratic ward l ...

for his seat in the

, earning the endorsement of Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

in May 2020. Saval based his campaign around a

Green New Deal The Green New Deal (GND) calls for public policy to address climate change, along with achieving other social aims like job creation, economic growth, and reducing economic inequality. The name refers to the New Deal, a set of changes and ...

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...

, guaranteed

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

, redevelopment of Philadelphia schools, and

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...

. He beat Farnese in the primary and became de facto State Senator-elect, as he had no opposition in the general election. He was a member of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

from 2014 through at least 2020. In 2022, Saval introduced the Whole-Home Repairs Act, legislation which aims to provide eligible residents with grants of up to $50,000 to make health-and-safety focused home repairs. Small landlords would also be eligible to apply for similar loans under the same program, and the state government would also invest in training qualified home-repair workers. This program is partly intended to help low-income residents become eligible for federal grants from the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which subsidizes energy-efficiency upgrades for poorer residents. Despite Saval himself’s position on the left wing of the Democratic party, Saval’s bill has received signals of support from several Republican committee chairs. In 2024, Saval supported a legislative proposal to increase housing supply in Pennsylvania by reducing onerous zoning regulations that restrict housing. The bill would permit duplexes in small towns and fourplexes in mid-sized towns previously zoned exclusively for single-family housing, as well as permit accessory dwelling units in all areas zoned for single-family housing.

Personal life

Saval is married to Shannon Garrison. The couple live in Philadelphia with their sons.

Books

* ''Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace'' (2014), * ''Rage in Harlem: June Jordan and Architecture'' (2024), Sternberg Press / Harvard University Graduate School of Design, ISBN 9783956796296

References

External links

Profile
at the

Campaign website

Reclaim Philadelphia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saval, Nikil 1982 births Living people American editors American male journalists American politicians of Indian descent Asian-American state legislators in Pennsylvania Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Pennsylvania Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators Pennsylvania socialists Columbia College (New York) alumni Stanford University alumni Politicians from Philadelphia 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly American literary editors American male non-fiction writers American activists American political writers