Rate My Professor Sara Alidoust

Dr. Sara Alidoust is Senior Lecturer in Planning and Program Convenor (Planning) in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Queensland. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Griffith University, awarded in 2017 for her thesis 'Planning for socially healthy ageing – A study of neighbourhood environments and their impacts on the social lives of older people,' along with Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture degrees. Prior to her appointment at UQ, she served as a researcher, educator, and practitioner in the private sector and local government in Australia and internationally. Her career emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to urban challenges.

Dr. Alidoust's research centers on the intersections of urban planning and public health, providing transdisciplinary solutions to issues such as housing equity and healthy cities. Employing systems thinking, she investigates connections between planning practices and the physical, mental, and social health of individuals and communities, with a focus on developing resilient cities that maintain liveability during disruptions. Key research interests include planning for social sustainability and community wellbeing, resilient and liveable cities, age-friendly planning, housing vulnerability, and informal housing in the Global North. She has produced 36 scholarly works from 2014 to 2026, including journal articles like 'Sustained liveable cities: the interface of liveability and resiliency' (2023, Cities and Health), 'Planning for livable compact vertical cities: A quantitative systematic review of the impact of urban geometry on thermal and visual comfort in high-rise precincts' (2025, Sustainable Cities and Society), 'A systematic review of planning policies for community wellbeing' (2022, Journal of Urbanism), 'A decade of research on housing and health: a systematic literature review' (2021, Reviews on Environmental Health), and 'Older people, house-sitting and ethics of care' (2024, International Journal of Housing Policy). Notable book chapters encompass 'Planning Healthy and Livable Cities' (2022, The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures), 'Smart densification' (2022), and 'Mapping urban transport - land use interactions worldwide, a state of practice' (2023). Her findings contribute to planning practice, policymaking, and community engagement. Dr. Alidoust supervises PhD candidates on topics including healthy high-rise precincts, resilient housing systems, climate change impacts on community health, and age-friendly urban planning.