Dr Fatemeh Aminpour | UNSW Research

My Expertise

Fatemeh's research centres on interdisciplinary environment-behaviour projects that investigate people and place relationship. Her particular focus is on research with children that offers recommendations for inclusive design. She has the experience of using qualitative methodologies and participatory methods with children.

Keywords

urban and built environment research

interdisciplinary research

architecture

inclusive design

children and young people

early childhood development

school environment

agency behaviour

qualitative analysis

qualitative methodology

qualitative methods

Fields of Research (FoR)

Architecture, Urban and regional planning

SEO tags

Expanding Knowledge in Built Environment and Design

Children's/Youth Services and Childcare

Health Inequalities

Moral and Social Development (incl. Affect)

Biography

Dr Fatemeh Aminpour is currently a Research Fellow at City Futures Research Centre. She has a background in Architecture and is experienced in environment-behaviour research and inclusive design. Her research investigates the diverse needs of underserved and marginalised populations including children, people with diverse abilities, seniors and homeless people to address the knowledge gap in the design of suitable environments and services.

Fatemeh is an associate of the Disability Innovation Institute and the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW.

My Grants

City of Sydney Ideas and Innovation Grant (2025)
Melbourne City Mission (2024)
AHURI Inquiry project (2022)
UNSW Built Environment Research Acceleration Fellowship
CTBUH Seed Funding (2021), Sponsor: ARUP
PhD Writing Fellowship, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW (2018), Sponsor: Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW
Digital Uplift Innovation – Learning and Teaching Grant (2018), Sponsor: Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW
EDRA Student Research Grant, EDRA47 (2015), Sponsor: Environment Design Reseach Association

My Qualifications

PhD (UNSW), MArch, BArch

My Awards

ADA ECAN Award for best book chapter or journal article (2021 and 2023)
Learning and Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW (2018)
The winner of 3MT competition, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW (2017)
University International Postgraduate Award for PhD studies, UNSW (2014)
The fourth best design selected in the conference of Iranian School, Iranian Architecture for the design of the educational complex with a collaborative approach to learning in Semnan (2012)
Top undergraduate student, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran (2009)
The best design of the Residential Complex in Imamzade Yahiya Neighbourhood in Tehran awarded by the chairman of Tehran City Council (2008)

My Research Activities

2022-2024: An AHURI funded study titled ‘Getting off the Waiting List? Managing housing assistance provision in an era of intensifying social housing shortage’ which I completed as the lead CI.

2021-2023: A Faculty-funded project on ‘school use of public open spaces’

2022-2023: A participatory research project on ‘child-friendly vertical schools environments’ supported by CTBUH International Research Seed Funding

Apr 2021 - present: Assisted with multiple projects at CFRC including ACOSS-UNSW Poverty and Inequality Partnership project on ‘COVID-19: Rental Housing and Homelessness Impacts’, two ARC Discovery projects (‘Developing the Compact City’, ‘Residential Parks and Communities and Rental Villages’), multiple AHURI projects (‘Assisting First Home Buyers: an International Review’, ‘Business Models, Consumer Experiences and Regulation of Retirement Villages’, ‘Public Housing Transfer’, ‘Australia’s COVID-19 Pandemic Housing Policy Responses’) and 2024 Australian Homelessness Monitor

Sep 2020 - Dec 2020: Housing and the Economy: Scenarios for Australia to 2025 and 2045 (Research Assistant)

Jul 2019- Dec 2019 Fair Play: Exploring the Benefits of Structured and Unstructured Play for Equity in Education (Research Fellow)

Apr 2019 - Nov 2019: The Application of Public Participation GIS for Understanding Children's Liveable Local Streets (Research Assistant)

Jun 2018 - Feb 2019: EEDMN BASIX: Mapping the Decision-Making Processes to Identify Barriers and Drivers to Meet or Exceed the BASIX Requirements of New Builds, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and CRC for Low Carbon Living (Research Fellow)

Feb 2014 - Feb 2018: The Role of In-between Spaces within Outdoor School Environments in Children’s Expression of Agency, Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales (Doctoral thesis)

Sep 2013 - Nov 2013: Low-energy schools in Iran, Jihad Research Centre, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran (Research Assistant)

Feb 2011 - Feb 2012: The Design of a School Complex in Semnan with the Approach of Collaborative Learning, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran and Organization for Development (Research Assistant)

My Engagement

Year 2 Coordinator in the Landscape Architecture program
From 2018, Member of CYRN, UNSW Steering Committee
From 2014, Member of People and Place Research Cluster
2017, Student Representative, Built Environment Academic Programs & Quality Committee, UNSW Governance
2017, Student Representative, Built Environment Academic Programs & Quality Committee, Faculty of Built Environment
2016, Nura Gili Indigenous Programs, Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS)