Mahsa Bazrafshan

I’m a Landscape Architect and a doctoral student at WSL/ETHZ supported by the Swiss Excellence Scholarship for Foreign Students. My PhD is under the supervision of Prof. Felix Kienast. I obtained my MSc in Environmental Design Engineering at SRBIAU Univ. in Iran. During my Master thesis, I have worked with ECOVAST, an organization in Austria, on identity building, and applied their method to a natural heritage site in Iran. 

As a PhD student in landscape ecology, I would like to understand how the current pressure of urban densification and climate change impact mental well-being, and whether ‘urban green space’ can improve health and facilitate placemaking. Thus, my work lies at the intersection of spatial planning and the socio-cultural-environmental role of urban green space. By using Persian gardens as one type of urban green, I seek to learn more about the century-old design of ‘urban green space’ in a multi-cultural context. The foreseen study will culminate in a cross-cultural comparison of Urban green space. 

Research Interest:

·         Identity Building

·         Natural heritage studies

·         Green Infrastructure

·         Mobility and multi-cultural societies

·         Big data in landscape studies

More information is always available on my LinkedIn Page