Dr Jamileh Manoochehri

Job: Associate Professor

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: Leicester School of Architecture

Research group(s): Architectural History, Theory, and Criticism

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 257 7418

E: jmanoochehri@dmu.ac.uk

W: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/lsa

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Personal profile

Dr. Jamileh Manoochehri is Associate Professor at the Leicester School of Architecture (LSA), De Montfort University. She is a qualified architect with nearly 20 years of experience in architectural practice, with an emphasis on housing. She has been teaching since 2003 and is currently Subject Head for Professional Studies and Programme Leader for Part 3 at LSA. Dr. Manoochehri is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and of RSA. She is a member of the Association of Professional Studies Advisors in Architecture and she has served on validation panels of RIBA nationally and internationally.

The focus of her research is on housing and has entailed the impact of ideology on the formation of social and housing policy in the UK, to the issues of social sustainability. Currently her research interest is in spatial agency and its relevance to housing. She runs the seminar group Housing and Dwelling at postgraduate level. Dr. Manoochehri’s teaching includes design studio in UG and PG levels, History and Theory and research, and she has been professional examiner at Oxford Brookes University and is currently examiner on the Part 3 course at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

She supervises several PhD students on topics mostly concerned with housing but also including cultural space and the urban environment, ranging from conditions in the UK, Taiwan, Nigeria and the Middle East.

Research group affiliations

Architectural History, Theory, and Criticism
Emerging research group Environment at the Leicester School of Architecture

Publications and outputs

Social Sustainability, Housing and Alienation
Social Sustainability, Housing and Alienation Manoochehri, Jamileh This chapter considers the relevance of the sustainability agenda at a time when post-industrial capitalism dominates economic and social relations. It attempts to find links between the way housing is understood as a need and a right while it is, at the same time, defined increasingly as a commodity. It argues that one by-product of this condition is alienation and that it is important to see the debate about current social conditions such as social sustainability and housing, especially in relation to social housing, in the context of alienation. The loss of access to adequate housing of socially acceptable standards and the dispersal of people from communities are turning into a new norm in the twenty-first century in the UK. The absolute majority of the new housing that is constructed enters the market and remains out of the reach of a majority of low-income people. In the meantime, the extant social housing is marginalized further. This chapter proposes that this relates most closely with the increasing commodification and marketization of housing, and changing significance from its use value to exchange value.
Smart Futures, Challenges of Urbanisation, and Social Sustainability
Smart Futures, Challenges of Urbanisation, and Social Sustainability Dastbaz, M.; Naude, Wim; Manoochehri, Jamileh This book tackles the challenges posed by accelerating urbanization, and demystifies Social Sustainability, the least understood of all the different areas of sustainable development. The volume’s twin focus on these profoundly intertwined topics creates a nuanced and vitally important resource. Large migrations from rural areas to cities without appropriate planning and infrastructure improvements, including housing, education and health care optimization, have created significant challenges across the globe. The authors suggest technology-rich strategies to meet these challenges by careful application of data on population growth and movement to the planning, design, and construction of operational infrastructures that can sustainably support our increasingly rapid population growth.
Social Sustainability, Housing and Alienation
Social Sustainability, Housing and Alienation Manoochehri, Jamileh This chapter considers the relevance of the sustainability agenda at a time when post-industrial capitalism dominates economic and social relations. It attempts to find links between the way housing is understood as a need and a right while it is, at the same time, defined increasingly as a commodity. It argues that one by-product of this condition is alienation and that it is important to see the debate about current social conditions such as social sustainability and housing, especially in relation to social housing, in the context of alienation. The loss of access to adequate housing of socially acceptable standards and the dispersal of people from communities are turning into a new norm in the twenty-first century in the UK. The absolute majority of the new housing that is constructed enters the market and remains out of the reach of a majority of low-income people. In the meantime, the extant social housing is marginalized further. This chapter proposes that this relates most closely with the increasing commodification and marketization of housing, and changing significance from its use value to exchange value.
Social Sustainability and the Housing Problem
Social Sustainability and the Housing Problem Manoochehri, Jamileh The issue of sustainability which started as an environmental concern has gained currency in research and media for a number of years, and it has been defined in a number of ways, each reflecting a particular approach or theoretical basis. While the term ‘sustainability’ has been in use for around two decades, the most referred to aspects are environmental, economic and social sustainability. Environmental sustainability is perhaps the most easily quantified. The impact of the development on the ecology of the earth is to be kept to a minimum. The embodied energy of materials used on site, the energy consumption of the development once complete and lived in are measured or projections of such consumption are considered to gauge the impact of the development. Economic sustainability is probably the most easily quantifiable of the three measures of sustainability. The project simply cannot be carried out unless it functions as an economic proposition.
The Politics of Social Housing in Britain
The Politics of Social Housing in Britain Manoochehri, Jamileh This book investigates the relationship between the dominant ideologies of British public life in the second half of the twentieth century and the quality of the social housing built during this period. The author compares award-winning housing projects from the 1960s and the 1980s, projects that represent two major milestones in the development of state-provided housing in Britain. Her detailed analysis looks beyond the superficial appearance of housing policy in these two contrasting periods and provides fascinating insights into the substance of the changes that took place. The book examines the influence of universalist and selectivist approaches to social housing and asks important questions about the connection between social values and government policy.

Click here for a full listing of Jamileh Manoochehri's publications and outputs.

Research interests/expertise

Research on ideology, social values and housing; and architecture as the spatial manifestations of cultural and social relations.

Areas of teaching

Architectural design,
History and Theory of architecture,
Housing and social policy

Qualifications

AA Diploma
RIBA Part III
PhD in Social Housing and Policy

Courses taught

Architecture BA (Hons), All levels

Membership of external committees

External Examiner for Part III at Oxford Brookes University
Membership on RIBA (professional body) Validation Panel

Membership of professional associations and societies

Member of Royal Institute of British Architects
ARB Registered Architect (Architects’ Registration Board)
Member of the Architectural Association

Conference attendance

Paper submitted to Sustainability Conference in Hanoi in 2003

Consultancy work

Private architectural consultancy

Current research students

PhD Examiner

Case studies

My book: Politics of Social Housing has been given a 4* rating.