Rate My Professor Sanaz Alian

Dr. Sanaz Alian is a Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning (Architecture and Urban Design) in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England. She completed her Bachelor of Urban Development Engineering (BUDE) at the Islamic Azad University (IAU), followed by a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) and a PhD in urban planning and design at UNE. Her doctoral research, titled 'Radical Alterity, Ethnicity and the Multicultural City: Spatial Planning and Super Diversity in Bankstown, Sydney', examines how built environments shape experiences and perceptions of ethnic diversity among immigrants in Australia. Sanaz has taught at UNE since 2014, coordinating and delivering units such as Introduction to Plan Making (GEPL122), Introduction to Architectural Design (GEPL359), Community Planning and Participation (GEPL361), and Architecture and Urban Design studios (GEPL302/402/502).

Dr. Alian's research specializations include urban design, urban social theory, planning for multiculturalism, urban sociology, theories of place and space, and retail planning. She supervises postgraduate students in these areas and is a member of the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) and the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA). Her key peer-reviewed publications, co-authored with Stephen Wood, are 'What difference does “difference” make? Identity, difference and the multicultural city' in Planning Theory (2021), 'Implosive Multiculturalism: Staging of the Community in Bankstown, Sydney' in Journal of Space and Culture (2021), and 'Stranger adaptations: public/private interfaces, adaptations, and ethnic diversity in Bankstown, Sydney' in Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability (2019). She has presented at international conferences including the Fay Gale Memorial Lecture at the Institute of Australian Geographers Conference (2022), HERDSA (2022), Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP, 2017), and State of Australian Cities (2015). Committed to community involvement, Sanaz volunteers for organizations in Armidale and describes herself as a female immigrant community-minded planner.