Mahyar Masoudi
Department of Geography
糖心视频 University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL
A1B 3X9
Office: SN 2019
Tel: (709) 864-2512
Fax: (709) 864-3119
mahyar.masoudi[at]mun[dot]ca
Research
Research Group Website
As an urban ecologist, I am passionate about studying how to enhance the environmental performance of, and the health and well-being of people living in urban landscapes through optimizing the spatial pattern of urban landscape elements, such as trees, land uses, and buildings. I also investigate how different groups of people are impacted by varying environmental conditions, using an environmental justice lens.
Conceptually, I apply a systems thinking and see urban landscapes as highly complex social-ecological-technological systems, where biophysical and socio-economic drivers and processes co-evolve and interact with each other to generate varying spatial patterns, and in turn induce differential environmental and health conditions.
Methodologically, I primarily use techniques from geographic information sciences, and employ a wide range of spatial (and aspatial) methods (e.g., spatial econometrics, machine learning) to analyze my data. I collect my research data mainly through remote sensing techniques (e.g., satellite imageries, Lidar), and may also use field measurements, numerical modelling, and experimental approaches depending on my research questions. Additionally, I have particular interest in exploring emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT)) towards providing an enhanced understanding of the dynamics of urban landscapes.
At the Department of Geography, I direct the . Please visit my research group website for more information on our research and opportunities to join the lab. I am also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo, and an Affiliate of the Resilient and Inclusive Cities Lab at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.
Education
Post-doc (2022-2023) - University of Waterloo
Post-doc (2018-2021) - National University of Singapore
PhD. (2018) - National University of Singapore
MSc. (2012) - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
BSc. (2009) - University of Guilan
Selected publications
Please see my full list of publications from my profile or by visiting my research group .
2022
Richards, D. R., Belcher, R. N., Carrasco, L. R., Edwards, P. J., Fatichi, S., Hamel, P., Masoudi, M., McDonnell, M. J., Peleg, N., & Stanley, M. C. (2022). Global variation in contributions to human well-being from urban vegetation ecosystem services. One Earth, 5(5), 522鈥533.
2021
Tan, B. A., Gaw, L. Y., Masoudi, M., & Richards, D. R. (2021). Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Sustainability: An Ecosystem Services Assessment of Plans for Singapore鈥檚 First 鈥淔orest Town.鈥 Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9(April), 1鈥18.
Masoudi, M., Tan, P. Y., & Fadaei, M. (2021). The effects of land use on spatial pattern of urban green spaces and their cooling ability. Urban Climate. 35(November 2020), 100743
Alemu I. J. B., Richards, D. R., Gaw, L. Y. F., Masoudi, M., Nathan, Y., & Friess, D. A. (2021). Identifying spatial patterns and interactions among multiple ecosystem services in an urban mangrove landscape. Ecological Indicators, 121, 107042.
2020
Yanru, H., Masoudi, M., Chadala, A., & Olszewska-Guizzo, A. (2020). Visual Quality Assessment of Urban Scenes with the Contemplative Landscape Model: Evidence from a Compact City Downtown Core. Remote Sensing, 12(21), 3517.
Tan, P. Y., Zhang, J., Masoudi, M., Alemu, J. B., Edwards, P. J., Gr锚t-Regamey, A., 鈥 Wong, L. W. (2020). A conceptual framework to untangle the concept of urban ecosystem services. Landscape and Urban Planning, 200(September 2019), 103837.
2019
Masoudi, M., & Tan, P. Y. (2019). Multi-year comparison of the effects of spatial pattern of urban green spaces on urban land surface temperature. Landscape and Urban Planning, 184(January), 44鈥58.
Masoudi, M., Tan, P. Y., & Liew, S. C. (2019). Multi-city comparison of the relationships between spatial pattern and cooling effect of urban green spaces in four major Asian cities. Ecological Indicators, 98(November 2018), 200鈥213.
Richards, D., Masoudi, M., Oh, R. R. Y., Yando, E. S., Zhang, J., Friess, D. A., 鈥 Edwards, P. J. (2019). Global Variation in Climate, Human Development, and Population Density Has Implications for Urban Ecosystem Services. Sustainability, 11(22), 6200.