Pegah Behroozi Nobar is a PhD candidate in Urban Studies at the University of British Columbia, focusing on the political economy of the housing crisis for the urban poor. Her research delves into grassroots strategies employed by the urban poor in Iran to address their housing needs. Pegah is a critical urban scholar employing an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon urban political economy, critical discourses on urban inequalities, socio-spatial justice, and the right to the city, particularly for marginalized groups and individuals.

She utilizes various mixed methods, combining the extended-case method, ethnography, walking, archival research, policy discourse analysis, and in-depth interviews. Her most recent publication, “ZoorAbad, A Neighborhood on the Shoulders of the Urban Poor,” was featured in the City Journal in 2023.

Pegah’s MA thesis research in Urban and Regional Planning at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland focused on critical discourse analysis of Strategic Spatial Planning as a response to rural underdevelopment in Qazvin, Iran.

Facing restrictions due to her religious beliefs in the Baha’i faith, Pegah was barred from pursuing higher education at public formal universities in Iran. Consequently, she earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture from an informal underground institution known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) in Iran. These personal experiences have endowed her with a unique perspective, fueling her passion for studying, conducting research, and acting as an urban activist to address socio-spatial inequalities globally, especially in the global south.