Sahar S Hosseini

Sahar S. Hosseini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. She holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, along with a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Tehran. Her research focuses on the socio-cultural dimensions of built environments in pre-modern Muslim societies, particularly Safavid Iran, emphasizing the interplay between urban structures, natural landscapes, and global-local dynamics. Her current book project reinterprets 17th-century Isfahan through the Zayandehrud River’s role in shaping urban development, spanning regional and human-scale analyses.

In contemporary studies, she collaborates with digital storytellers at Rutgers University-Newark to map Newark’s immigrant history via its built environment, exemplified in the Ironbound Foodscapes project. Teaching emphasizes critical engagement with landscapes as socio-historical narratives, with courses on Muslim world art/architecture and environmental art history. Awards include Andrew Mellon Fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks and the New York Botanical Garden. She advises graduate student Hossein Nakhaei and has led curricular initiatives like the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative. Her work bridges historical methodologies with digital tools to explore urban landscapes across temporal and geographic scales.