Pegah Behroozi-Nobar

Pegah Behroozi-Nobar holds a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of British Columbia (UBC), a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Heriot-Watt University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Her interdisciplinary research, writing, and activism center on urban inequalities, the political economy of the urban commons, housing justice, and alternative models of social housing in the Middle East. Her work also critically engages with themes of urban informality and self-built settlements.Currently, Pegah is examining the dynamics of the elimination of urban commons and the role of state-led urban governance in this process. She investigates how the privatization of common spaces—such as waterfronts and shorelines—under accelerated urbanization affects marginalized communities’ access to these spaces, shaping their sense of belonging and deepening social and spatial exclusion in the city. She is the co-founder of Diyar Common Matters Society, a British Columbia–based nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring and advocating for the preservation and creation of common urban spaces. The organization conducts community-engaged research aimed at fostering more equitable and just cities across the province. Pegah is also working on her forthcoming book manuscript, titled Squatter Government, which explores how modern governments systematically engage in the confiscation of common and private spaces, specifically targeting marginalized groups.