Pegah Aftabi

Pegah is a doctoral researcher and architect specialising in community-centred urban heritage preservation and planning. She holds an M.Sc. in Conservation of Urban Heritage and a B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Tehran. 
 
Pegah joined Loughborough University in January 2024. As part of her PhD, she is a member of The Impact Hub (TIH), an interdisciplinary project funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), which aims to develop a town-scale urban observatory for Loughborough. 
 
Since 2020, Pegah has gained experience working as a teaching and research assistant. She currently supports courses at Loughborough University, including Social Design, Design and Placemaking, and Urban Data Analytics. 

In her research titled "Co-creating Urban Heritage Narratives in Loughborough," Pegah investigates how communities perceive and engage with heritage in urban settings. Her work aims to improve participatory decision-making approaches used by authorities in heritage management. By leveraging innovative tools such as participatory mapping and digital urban observatories, she seeks to co-create meaningful urban heritage narratives that can help bridge the gap between community perspectives and formal planning processes. 
 
Research and Expertise: 

• Urban Heritage Management 
• Community Participation
• Community-Led Design
• Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Aftabi, P., & Bahramjerdi, S. F. N. (2023). Developing a decision-making framework within the management of historical cities: Towards integrated conservation and development of the Roudaki neighbourhood. Land Use Policy, 129, 106653. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106653 
 
Ahmadi, E., & Aftabi, P. (2022). Examining the Position of Community Participation in the Process of Conservation and Management Policymaking of World Heritage Cities. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 19(115), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2022.306349.5010