Atyeh Ashtari, Ph.D.

Dr. Atyeh (Ati) Ashtari is an interdisciplinary feminist urban scholar. Prior to joining UWT in Fall 2025, She was an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. Dr. Ashtari was born and raised in Tehran, Iran where she started her education in the field of architecture as a first-generation student.

Core Research Interests:

Coming from an extensive interdisciplinary background, her research interests center community as the main unit of analysis and emphasis. They broadly lie within the realms of intersectional humane urbanism; sustainable community-based development; community economies; participatory action research; critical feminist theories, methodologies, and storytelling. She has authored several publications, and has done research in Iran, the United States, and Ecuador.

Engaged Scholarship and Community Service:

Her positionality as an academic committed to gender and racial justice and combating xenophobia is reflected throughout her engaged scholarship, activism, community service, mentoring efforts, and leadership. Currently, Dr. Ashtari serves as the Vice President of the ACSP Faculty Women's Interest Group, which is a formally approved Interest Group of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. She is also a proud invited member of the Diverse Solidarity Economies Collective and the Community Economies Research Network.

Current ongoing project:

Dr. Ashtari is a principal investigator and a leading member of the Humane Urbanisms Project (HUP). This is a multilingual Open Access platform (in-progress) where urban movements and grassroots collectives among marginalized communities share their stories of radical care, hope, and imagined just futures. Through this multimedia website, available in languages of participating movements, we co-create knowledge among activists positioned within academia and among marginalized communities to understand how urban movements catalyze a collective imagination of alternative futures.

Major Awards, Grants and Recognitions:

Her work has been nationally and locally recognized by the American Association of University Women, International Center for Research on Women, American Association of Landscape Architects, Landscape Architecture Foundation, Center for Global Studies, Barbara Yates Fellowship, Evelyne Accad and Paul Vieille International Research Award, and Ryerson Fellowship, among others.

Please, visit Dr. Ashtari’s personal website for more information: https://www.atyehashtari.com/