Staff Profiles

Modules taught

Urban Lab 2: Architecture and Open Space Design

Research group membership

Land, Design and Development (Leader)

Healthy Aging and Care Network

Sustainable and Resilient Futures Network

Research grants and awards

2021–2022 || PI || €12,000 ||Radical Urban Alternative: The limits and promises of the alternative urbanism in neoliberal era, Oxford Brookes’ Research Excellence & Impact Award Scheme 2020-21

2018–2021 || PI || €270,000 || (Un)Just Neighbourhoods; Socio-Spatial Justice in Urban Neighbourhooods; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship, H2020, European Commission. Hosted jointly by: Institute of Urban and Regional Planning (IURD), UC Berkeley, School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University

2014–2016 || PI || € 309,000 || Contribution of Compact Neighbourhoods to the Social Sustainability; Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (IEF), FP7 Framework, European Commission. Hosted by: School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University

2014–2016 || PI || €300,000 || International PhD Programme: Mahalle meets Stadtquartier; Berlin-Rabat-Tehran-Istanbul, DAAD-German Academic Exchange Service. Hosted by: Department of Architecture, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin

2013 || PI || €15,000 || Space-In-Between: A Phenomenological Reading; Gerda Henkel Foundation, Germany. Hosted by: Department of Architecture, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin

2013–2014 || CO-I || €200,000 || Participatory Urban Regeneration in Deteriorated Areas; Berlin-Cairo-Istanbul-Tehran; DAAD-German Academic Exchange Service. Hosted by: Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft (ZTG), Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin

2009–2011 || PI || €85,400 || Sustainable Critical Regionalism in MENA Countries; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Hosted by: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin

Books

• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, Ed., Urban Social Sustainability: Theory, Policy and Practice, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 9781138069381 eISBN: 9781351631532
  Abstract

  This ground breaking volume raises radical critiques and proposes innovative solutions for social sustainability in the built environment. Urban Social Sustainability provides an in-depth insight into the discourse and argues that every urban intervention has a social sustainability dimension that needs to be taken into consideration, and incorporated into a comprehensive and cohesive ‘urban agenda’ that is built on three principles of recognition, integration, and monitoring. This should be achieved through a dialogical and reflexive process of decision-making. To achieve sustainable communities, social sustainability should form the basis of a constructive dialogue and be interlinked with other areas of sustainable development. This book underlines the urgency of approaching social sustainability as an urban agenda and goes on to make suggestions about its formulation.

  Urban Social Sustainability consists of original contributions from academics and experts within the field and explores the significance of social sustainability from different perspectives. Areas covered include urban policy, transportation and mobility, urban space and architectural form, housing, urban heritage, neighbourhood development, and urban governance. Drawing on case studies from a number of countries and world regions the book presents a multifaceted and interdisciplinary understanding from social sustainability in urban settings, and provides practitioners and policy makers with innovative recommendations to achieve more socially sustainable urban environment.

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran: Tradition, Modernity, and the Production of ‘Space-In-Between’, Springer (2018)
  ISBN: 9783319721842 eISBN: 9783319721859
  Abstract This book presents an in-depth critical analysis of the internationally recognized, place-specific works of three Iranian architects (Nader Ardalan, Kamran Diba and Hossein Amanat) during the 60s and 70s, and their significant contribution to the emerging anti-modernist discourse.It argues that from the mid-19th century onwards architecture and urban design in Iran has been oscillated between two extremes of modernity and tradition. Drawing on the theory of ‘critical regionalism’ (Kenneth Frampton), the book critically analyses writings and works of the above-mentioned architects and contends that they created a ‘space-in-between’ which unified two extremes of tradition and modernity in a creative way (Khalq-i Jadid: New Creation). The book also contains three in-depth interviews with architects to discuss their singular narrative of the creation of ‘in-between’. A concluding chapter addresses the promises of critical regionalist architecture and urban design in post-Revolutionary Iran as well as the Middle East, where the dichotomy of tradition and modernity is yet a valid account.Website 
• Dienel H, Shirazi MR, Schröder S, Schmithals J, Citizens’ Participation in Urban Planning and Development in Iran; Challenges and Opportunities, Routledge (2017)
  ISBN: 978-1472440525
  Website 
• Shirazi MR, Towards an Articulated Phenomenological Interpretation of Architecture: Phenomenal Phenomenology, Routledge (2014)
  ISBN: 9780415637954 eISBN: 9781134679652
  Abstract This book sheds light on the contemporary status of phenomenological discourse in architecture and investigates its current scholastic as well as practical position. Starting with a concise introduction to the philosophical grounds of phenomenology from the points of view of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, it presents a critical reading of the works of some leading figures of architectural phenomenology in both theory and practice, such as Christian Norberg-Schultz, Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Steven Holl.
   
  Highlighting the main challenges of the current phenomenological discourse in architecture, this book formulates a more articulated method of 'phenomenological interpretation' – dubbed 'phenomenal phenomenology' - as a new and innovative method of interpreting the built environment. Finally, using Tadao Ando's Langen Foundation Museum as a case study, it investigates the architect's contribution to phenomenological discourse, interprets and analyzes the Museum building using the new heuristic method, and thus provides a clear example of its applicability.
   
  By introducing a clear, articulated, and practical method of interpretation, this book is of interest to academics and students analyzing and studying architecture and the built environment at various scales.
• Erkut G, Shirazi MR, Ed., Dimensions of Urban Re-development, The Case of Beyoglu, Istanbul, TU Berlin (2014)
  ISBN: 978-3-9812769-4-7
  Website 
• Shirazi MR, New Towns-Promises Towards Sustainable Urban Form: from "Shushtar-No to "Shahre Javan Community", Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (2013)
  ISBN: 978-3798325128
  Abstract This book presents a comparative study between Shahre Javan Community Pilot Project and Shushtar-No, the latter a residential complex designed and partly realized 35 years ago in the southern part of Iran, the former a residential quarter in Hashtgerd New
• Keynejad MA, Shirazi MR, The Traditional Houses of Tabriz, Academy of Arts (2011)
  

Journal articles

• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, 'Social Sustainability of Compact Neighbourhoods. Evidence from London and Berlin'
  Sustainability 13 (4) (2021)
  ISSN: 2071-1050 eISSN: 2071-1050
  Abstract

  This article revisits social sustainability of compact urban neighbourhoods based on first-hand evidence from four case studies in London and Berlin. It suggests a working definition for socially sustainable neighbourhoods, develops a tripartite integrative evaluation framework for measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods, and applies it to four case studies in London and Berlin. Findings of this research are in line with some dominant arguments made in favour of social sustainability of compact urban form, but challenges some others. Research findings suggest that compact urban form is not an urban orthodoxy, but has multiple and contrasting social meanings and perceptions in different contexts and places.
  

  Website 
• M. Reza Shirazi; Ramin Keivani; Sue Brownill; Georgia Butina Watson, 'Promoting Social Sustainability of Urban Neighbourhoods: The Case of Bethnal Green, London'
  International Journal of Urban and Regional Research x (2020)
  ISSN: 0309-1317
  Abstract

  Growing significance of neighbourhoods in different areas of urban planning, along with the increasing attention to the social dimension of sustainable communities and societies, emphasizes the need for conceptualizing socially sustainable neighbourhoods. This article first critically reflects on the concept of socially sustainable neighbourhoods in two areas of definition and operationalization. It then proposes a tripartite framework for measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods which combines three elements of neighbourhood,
  neighbouring, and neighbours. This framework is tested, examined, and discussed in the case of Bethnal Green, London. The findings are integrated into a Social Sustainability Enhancement Index which encompasses practical recommendations to promote social sustainability of Bethnal Green. The article concludes with highlighting research and policy implications of the proposed framework, and suggests some methodological improvements for the future research.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'Compact Urban Form: Neighbouring and Social Activity'
  Sustainability 12 (5) (2020)
  ISSN: 2071-1050
  Abstract

  Compact urban form has been widely suggested as a more sustainable development pattern that enhances different aspects of social liveability such as social exchange, collective interaction, and outdoor activity. Empirical research, however, challenges proposing a generic and universal understanding of compactness and its social advantages: compactness is perceived and lived differently in different socio-cultural contexts. This paper contributes to the call for gaining a more place-specific understanding from the compact urban form. To do so, it examines the social life of compact neighbourhoods in two study sites in Berlin. Social life is investigated by measuring the two dimensions of “neighbouring” and “social activities”: while the former explores how residents of the neighbourhood perceive different aspects of social life, the latter maps how urban space accommodates different types of social activity. Questionnaires and advanced mapping techniques are the primary sources of research obtained through intensive fieldwork and on-site observation. The research findings challenge some dominant assumptions attributed to the compact urban form orthodoxy: a compact neighbourhood can be perceived as safe, offer acceptable home and neighbourhood satisfaction, and, at the same time, suffer from low social networking and community engagement.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'Mapping Neighbourhood Outdoor Activities: Space, Time, Gender, and Age'
  Journal of Urban Design 24 (5) (2018) pp.715-737
  ISSN: 1357-4809 eISSN: 1469-9664
  Abstract

  This paper investigates spatial, temporal, age, and gender pattern of outdoor social activities in urban neighbourhoods and their correlation with properties of urban form. Informed by theories and mapping techniques in urban sociology, urban design, and behavioural research, it develops a methodology for mapping outdoor social activities and applies it to four case studies in London and Berlin. Findings demonstrate how different types of activities are spatially distributed, reflecting socio-spatial characteristics of the given neighbourhood. The paper elaborates the contribution of the research to ongoing debates such as gendered space and age-friendly communities and suggests methodological improvements for future research.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, 'The Triad of Social Sustainability: Defining and Measuring Social Sustainability of Urban Neighbourhoods'
  Urban Research and Practice 12 (4) (2018) pp.448-471
  ISSN: 1753-5069 eISSN: 1753-5077
  Abstract

  Despite recent advances in social sustainability discourse, there is a dearth of working definitions and evaluation frameworks regarding measuring social sustainability of neighbourhoods for research, practice, and policy purposes. Building on the qualitative meta-analysis of relevant resources, this article proposes the triad of social sustainability consisting of three pillars of neighbourhood, neighbouring, and neighbours, as a conceptual framework for understanding and measuring social sustainability of neighbourhoods. It introduces relevant indicators for each pillar, suggests advanced techniques for measuring them, and incorporates them into an integrated framework. At the end, significant research and policy implications of the proposed framework are discussed.

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, 'Critical reflections on the theory and practice of social sustainability in the built environment : a meta-analysis'
  Local Environment 22 (12) (2017) pp.1526-1545
  ISSN: 1354-9839 eISSN: 1469-6711
  Abstract This article presents a critical reflection on the theory and practice of social sustainability in the built environment, identifies areas of agreement and disagreement, explores theoretical and conceptual gaps and challenges, and
  suggests practical implications for future research and urban policy. It argues that despite revisionist approaches which challenge the tripartite structure of sustainable development, social dimension of sustainability remains an essential
  valid pillar. Utilising a qualitative meta-analysis methodology for undertaking critical analysis of previous research and publications on the topic, key themes of theory and practice of social sustainability are identified and critically examined.
  Accordingly 10 key formative characteristics of social sustainability and their research and policy implications are introduced. The article concludes with institutional observations for policy makers to achieve greater success in
  addressing largely underestimated dimensions of social sustainability in urban settings. Website 
• Falahat S, Shirazi MR, 'Spatial fragmentation and bottom-up appropriations: the case of Safavid Isfahan'
  Urban History 42 (01) (2015) pp.3-21
  ISSN: 0963-9268 eISSN: 1469-8706
  Abstract It is widely claimed that there was a clear spatial continuity in the evolution of the traditional Middle Eastern city, with every new development the result of an intelligent, albeit unplanned, evolution of pre-existing doctrines of construction. However, as far as the new Safavid urban development of seventeenth-century Isfahan (in Iran) is concerned, it is possible to distinguish a spatial fragmentation, in terms of urban pattern and urban structure, between the old texture and new extensions.Website 
• Shirazi MR, Falahat S, 'Urban oasis, towards a prototype for sustainable urbanity: the case of Tehran'
  International Journal of Society Systems Science 7 (4) (2015) pp.334-351
  ISSN: 1756-2511 eISSN: 1756-252X
  Abstract Drastic urban transformation of Tehran over the last two centuries generated an open spatial matrix with a state of affairs that is considered highly unsustainable. Due to the vast dimensions of the existing constructed area, which makes any radical interventions almost impossible, prototypes that provide a realistic and applicable approach are required to enhance the sense of place and ameliorate the current unsustainable situation. The aim of this article is to review the above-mentioned problems in the context of Tehran. It investigates the process of 'placelessness' and the state of 'unsustainability' in this city and formulates the concept of 'urban oasis' as an appropriate prototype for future interventions: a 'domain of resistance' against the ubiquitous placelessness of the megalopolis which integrates principles of sustainability and suggests a more sustainable urban life for the city's inhabitants. Finally, it puts forward a practical framework for implementing this concept in Tehran.Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'Growth of polynucleated metropolis and fragmentation of territorial management in the Tehran-Karaj urban region'
  International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development 6 (1) (2014) pp.107-122
  ISSN: 1946-3138
  Abstract This paper intends to investigate the process through which the Tehran–Karaj urban region has come into being, tracing its development from a small-town status 200 years ago, to its current status as an urban agglomeration of about 13 million inhabitants. Having introduced the genesis and structure of this urban region, a short review of the main challenges raised by it will reveal the nature and character of interconnectivity between its different components. It will then be argued that unlike some leading examples such as the Randstad, this interconnectivity has never been taken seriously by policy-makers, and suffers from an inefficient sectoral governance system, although it calls for the introduction of an integrated management system in the region. Finally, it will be concluded that despite the urgency of establishing an Integrated Management and Monitoring Administration, there is a growing will to fragmentation which neglects any regional planning strategy.Website 
• Archnet I, 'THE STORY OF “ONE-STORY-NESS.”(Mohammad Reza Shirazi)'
  International Journal of Architectural Research: ArchNet-IJAR 5 (1) (2014) pp.160-169
  ISSN: 1994-6961 eISSN: 1938 7806
  
• Shirazi MR, 'Sustainable planning for a quasi-urban region, necessities and challenges: the case of Tehran-Karaj'
  Planning Perspectives 28 (3) (2013) pp.441-460
  ISSN: 0266-5433
  Abstract A number of studies explore the urban structure of the city of Tehran; however, little has been done in regard to its interconnectivity with the surrounding settlements and current challenges at the regional scale. This article investigates the making and current unsustainable condition of the Tehran-Karaj Urban Region arguing that it took shape passively in the absence of any structural framework. To tackle these problems, it is essential to formulate a regional sustainable comprehensive plan, one in which the interrelatedness across the entire region is observed, and which takes appropriate account of current international understandings regarding sustainable urban development.Website 
• Falahat S, Shirazi MR, 'New urban developments in Safavid Isfahan continuity or disjuncture?'
  Planning Perspectives 27 (4) (2012) pp.611-624
  ISSN: 0266-5433
  Abstract Some historians and critics have claimed that the generation and the evolution of traditional pre-modern urbanism and architecture were based on a deep understanding of the natural and man-made environment; they present its achievements as an integrated structure in which a clear sense of continuity and integrity exists. But the new Safavid developments of seventeenth century Isfahan, a city that has been extensively admired and referred to as an ideal Iranian-Islamic city, narrates a different story and discredits this supposition. By applying the concept of genius loci, introduced by the Norwegian architectural critic Christian Norberg-Schulz to study the major natural and man-made characteristics of settlements and their later developments, this article investigates formal and structural differences and contradictions between new Safavid developments in Isfahan and the old pre-Safavid city. It attempts to explain and clarify whether these differences are based on a misinterpretation of the existing genius loci of the city and thus generate a sense of discontinuity or whether they are the result of its re-interpretation and thus present a sense of continuity. Ultimately, it will be argued that Safavid Isfahan expresses a sense of ‘disjuncture’, which must not be ignored at the expense of idealizing traditional urbanism.Website 
• Shirazi M, Falahat S, 'Compact urban form, question or solution? Examining the compact city in the Middle Eastern context: challenges and opportunities'
  International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development 4 (2) (2012) pp.246-259
  ISSN: 1946-3138
  Abstract The idea of ‘compact urban form’ has been examined mainly in the context of developed countries, but rarely has it been studied in the case of Middle Eastern cities. Due to the distinctive sociocultural background of the cities in this region, special consideration is urgent and necessary. This article investigates the main challenges presented by this idea, with a focus on Middle Eastern cities. It argues that because claims about the sustainability of the compact urban form in Middle Eastern cities have not been scientifically proven, its social acceptability remains questionable, the extent of its compactness is ambiguous, the tools to ensure the successful implementation of the compact pattern have not been defined and the size of the city has not been convincingly addressed.Website 
• Shirazi M, 'An Investigation on Tadao Ando’s Phenomenological Reflections'
  Armanshahr Architecture and Urban Development 4 (8) (2012) pp.21-31
  ISSN: 2008-5079 eISSN: 2538-2365
  Abstract Although Tadao Ando never refers to phenomenology explicitly, concentrating on his numerous texts and writings reveals that his way of thinking on architecture implies some essential themes and concerns, which are fundamentally related to the “phenomenological discourse” in both philosophy and architecture. Concepts and ideas such as union of subject and object, space, body and movement, memory, corporeality, multi-sensory perception, etc. are all essential themes in Ando’s reflection on architecture, which point to the common concerns in phenomenological discourse of architecture. This essay first discovers Ando’s basic phenomenological concerns based on a thematic analysis of his writings and words through which his central phenomenological concerns and their similarities and differences with the ideas and thoughts of other phenomenologists such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Norberg-Schultz, Pallasmaa, and Frampton are discovered. At the end, it is concluded that existing phenomenological reflections in Ando’s architectural thought and work are not the result of his systematic investigation and reading of theoretical texts about the philosophy of phenomenology, but rather they are more rooted in his personal state of mind, his way of learning and understanding architecture, his cultural background and attention to the Eastern-Japanese way of thinking, and to some extent studying the works of some architectural theoreticians like Norberg-Schulz and Frampton.
• Shirazi MR, 'On Phenomenological Discourse in Architecture'
  Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology Newsletter 23 (3) (2012) pp.11-15
  
• Shirazi MR, 'Norberg-Schulz’s Interpretation of Tadao Ando’s Vitra Conference Center: A Constructive Critique'
  Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology 22 (1) (2011) pp.16-19
  ISSN: 1083-9194
  Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'Phenomenology in Praxis. Learning from Pallasmaa's phenomenological interpretation of Villa Mairea'
  Armanshahr Architecture and Urban Development 3 (4) (2010) pp.125-132
  ISSN: 2008-5079
  Abstract Although phenomenology is originally a philosophical concept elaborated by philosophers, “phenomenology as a method” has been considered by architects and architectural theorists so that we can refer to the “literature of architectural phenomenology”; a huge body of texts, analyses, and explanations written by scholars in the last 50 years. In this regard, a key question is that how the philosophical investigations have been transferred into the architectural theory and practice, and how we can employ phenomenology in interpreting and analyzing architectural works and built environment.
  To answer the second question, the best way might be referring to the already produced texts by the scholars in which some architectural works are interpreted phenomenologically. However, despite of the existing literature in the field of architectural phenomenology, remarkable interpretations and analyses are scarce, and this fact shows the necessity of focusing on this problem.
  This article intends to introduce Juhani Pallasmaa’s phenomenological approach to architecture, whose ideas have deeply affected phenomenological literature in architecture. Focusing on his prominent analysis of Villa Mairea, a work by Alvar Aalto, Pallasmaa’s unique way of interpreting architectural works and its advantages will be taken into account.
• Shirazi M, 'Genius Loci: Phenomenology from Without'
  Wolkenkuckucksheim: International Journal of Architectural Theory 12 (2) (2008)
  ISSN: 1434-0984
  Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'On Space and Language'
  International Journal of Architectural Theory 22 (12) (2007)
  ISSN: 1434-0984
  Website 

Book chapters

• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, 'Social sustainability discourse: A critical revisit' in Shirazi, M. Reza; Keivani, Ramin (ed.), Urban Social Sustainability: Theory, Policy and Practice, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 9781138069381 eISBN: 9781351631532
  Abstract

  The idea of sustainability and sustainable development emerged during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a reaction to the growing environmental, economic, and social challenges worldwide. Two interconnected crises played a vital role in the emergence of sustainable urbanism: an ecological crisis as the result of the culmination of the environmental damages of rapid industrialization, and an urban crisis of deteriorating quality of urban life in the rapidly expanding cities worldwide (Whitehead, 2011). Although the roots of public awareness with regard to negative consequences of industrial development, urban growth, environmental degradation, social inequality, and economic injustice go back to decades before, two publications, The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972) and A Blueprint for Survival (Goldsmith and Allen, 1972), suggested serious concerns about the future of our planet. The 1987 release of ‘Our Common Future’ report by the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by the Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, was a turning point: the concept of sustainable development became the mainstream globally (Wheeler, 2013). Several international meetings and conferences were organized around this concept, scholars of many fields published intensively to explore its advantages and challenges, city administrations produced plans and visions for a sustainable urban future, and national and local policy documents provided strategic planning guidelines to achieve sustainable urban and regional development.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, Keivani R, 'Spatiality of social sustainability: Social activity and neighbourhood space' in Shirazi, M. Reza; Keivani, Ramin (ed.), Urban Social Sustainability: Theory, Policy and Practice, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 9781138069381 eISBN: 9781351631532
  Abstract

  In Chapter 1, we listed a number of definitions for social sustainability. These are based on a spatial element that either addresses the ‘place’ within which social sustainability themes and qualities, regardless of how they are defined, are positioned, or signifies a ‘sphere’ across which these qualities are individually and collectively perceived and comprehended. This spatiality, however, is differently implied. Approaching the city as a ‘long-term viable setting’ that can function as a ‘viable urban social unit’ (Yiftachel and Hedgcock, 1993: 140) highlights the capacity of a city to be a locality for delivering social qualities. The search for ‘equitable access to urban opportunities’ (Boschmann and Kwan, 2008: 139) has spatial implications, because the underlying prerequisite to achieve this goal is partly related to urban space and fair distribution of urban facilities across the city. From another perspective, ‘harmonious evolution of civil society’ (Stren and Polese, 2000: 15), a ‘decent quality of life or livelihood’ (Koning, 2002: 70), and ‘well-being of the people’ (Søholt et al., 2012: 256) hint at a subjectivity that goes beyond the locality as a physical setting and refers to a collective imagination in the minds of the urbanites. Despite these indirect references and spatial implications, the spatiality of social sustainability remains largely unexplored and untouched.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi, M. Reza; Keivani, Ramin, 'Social sustainability as an urban agenda: Towards a comprehensive image' in Shirazi MR, Keivani R (ed.), Urban Social Sustainability: Theory, Policy and Practice, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 9781138069381 eISBN: 9781351631532
  Abstract

  As outlined and discussed in Chapter 1, social sustainability discourse faces some challenges in areas of theory and evaluation. We begin the concluding chapter underlining the contribution of this book to these challenges.
  

  Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'From Utopia to Dystopia: Shushtar-e-No, Endeavour Towards Paradigmatic Shift' in From Utopia to Dystopia: Shushtar-e-No, Endeavour Towards Paradigmatic Shift, Springer (2016)
  ISBN: 978-3-319-26113-3 eISBN: 978-3-319-26115-7
  Abstract In the 1970s, and to meet the needs of the growing urban population, the Iranian government was able to plan for large-scale investments in the housing sector, thanks to suddenly increasing oil revenues. For a while, the western approach to housing and dwelling, crystallised in the proliferating and internationally appreciated style of modern architecture, dominated Iran’s new architecture and urban planning. However, a number of architects and urban planners resisted this dominance and tried to create a paradigmatic shift in the approach to housing and dwelling, focusing on the place-specific aspects of the context. The Shushtar-e-No project was an endeavour of this kind. This chapter addresses this paradigmatic shift, focusing on the case of Shushtar-e-No, a satellite city located 2 km from the old city of Shushtar and designed by Kamran Diba. After a short introduction to the political, social, and architectural context of the scheme, the chapter highlights how the architect’s unique approach to the built environment promised a paradigmatic shift in the question of housing and dwelling, the aim of which was to ‘synthesise’ the two modes of tradition and modernity in quest of a ‘local style’, and to promote a ‘social agenda’. Next, an investigation of the current environmental, social, and physical situation of the community will show its degeneration from the initial utopian image into a state of dystopia, which can be linked with both the initial architectural pre-suppositions and with later unexpected political incidents. Ultimately, using Foucauldian terminology, it will be concluded that Shushtar-e-No has transformed to a ‘crisis community’, a ‘forgotten land’, which represents a heterotopia par excellence.Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'The Orient Veneered in the Occident' in Gharipour M, Ozlu N (ed.), 10 “The Orient veneered in the Occident”, (2015)
  ISBN: 9781138842625 eISBN: 9781315730202
  Website 
• Shirazi M, 'The fragile phenomenology of Juhani Pallasmaa' in Barber M, Embree L, Nenon, T (ed.), 32 THE FRAGILE PHENOMENOLOGY OF JUHANI PALLASMAA, (2010)
  ISBN: 978-973-1997-75-9 eISBN: 978-973-1997-76-6
  Abstract This essay argues that Finnish architect and phenomenologist Juhani Pallasmaa’s way of architectural understanding involves what might be called a “fragile phenomenology,” by which is meant a style of phenomenological interpretation that is contextual and multi-sensory. Pallasmaa’s fragile phenomenology moves beyond the hegemony of vision to enrich the presence of the body by giving attention to lived experience and replacing one-dimensional vision by multi-sensory perception. This article provides an overview and preliminary critique of Pallasmaa’s fragile phenomenology by evaluating his interpretation of architect Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea (1938-39). The article concludes that Pallasmaa’s style of architectural understanding largely involves a “phenomenology from within.” In regard to the Villa Mairea, for example, we gain an in-depth phenomenological understanding of many architectural aspects of the building, though we gain a less clear understanding of the building as a whole and of its lived relationship with site and surroundings.Website 
• Shirazi MR, 'The Fragile Phenomenology of Juhani Pallismaa' in Barber M, Embree L, Nenon TJ (ed.), The Fragile Phenomenology of Juhani Pallismaa, (2010)
  ISBN: 978-973-1997-73-5 eISBN: 978-1997-74-2
  Abstract This essay argues that Finnish architect and phenomenologist Juhani Pallasmaa’s way of architectural understanding involves what might be called a “fragile phenomenology,” by which is meant a style of phenomenological interpretation that is contextual and multi-sensory. Pallasmaa’s fragile phenomenology moves beyond the hegemony of vision to enrich the presence of the body by giving attention to lived experience and replacing one-dimensional vision by multi-sensory perception. This article provides an overview and preliminary critique of Pallasmaa’s fragile phenomenology by evaluating his interpretation of architect Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea (1938-39). The article concludes that Pallasmaa’s style of architectural understanding largely involves a “phenomenology from within.” In regard to the Villa Mairea, for example, we gain an in-depth phenomenological understanding of many architectural aspects of the building, though we gain a less clear understanding of the building as a whole and of its lived relationship with site and surroundings.Website 

Other publications

• Shirazi MR, 'Glocalizing Sustainability, a theoretical approach towards particularizing and globalizing sustainability'
  (2011) pp.250-55

• Shirazi, M. Reza (2020) University of California's disservice to the Bayview Hunters Point community, SF Bayview, October 13, 2020
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2020) Hey kneeholders, take your knees off the Hunters Point Shipyard’s neck! SF Bayview, August 19, 2020.
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2020) The University of California’s ‘bad practice’ in the Hunters Point Shipyard, SF Bayview, January 25, 2020.
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2019) Contamination, de-contamination and the dilemma of distrust at the Hunters Point shipyard, SF Bayview, November 3, 2019.
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2019) Jumped into the toxic land! The now and future of the UC-led independent review of the Hunters Point Shipyard project, SF Bayview, July 31, 2019.
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2019) Toxic land! Walk carefully! Notes on the UC-led independent review of the Hunters Point Shipyard project, SF Bayview, April 27, 2019.
• Shirazi, M. Reza (2018) Decontaminate the community trust, before the land! IURD Blog, October 24, 2018.