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soheil sabri

Soheil Sabri

Assistant Professor

EMAIL
  • Office: Partnership II, Room 329
  • Email: soheil.sabri@ucf.edu
  • Phone: 407-882-1300
  • Google Scholar

BIOGRAPHY

Soheil Sabri is an urban planner and geospatial scientist focused on advancing urban development through research, practical work, and education. His main interests include urban digital twins, multi-dimensional planning support systems, and analytical tools that provide data-driven insights for urban planning.

Sabri leads pioneering research in urban digital twins, covering areas like development envelope control, rule-based compliance assessment, and environmentally sustainable design. He significantly influences digital urban planning through his roles in various professional organizations, including co-chairing the Academia and Research Working Group within the Digital Twin Consortium and contributing to the Planning Institute of Australia’s PlanTech National Working Group, Geoscience Australia’s Spatial Digital Twin Working Group and the Smart Cities Council’s Digital Twin Task Force.

Previously, Sabri was a senior research fellow at the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructure and Land Administration at The University of Melbourne and a senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He collaborated on numerous consultancy and research projects with governments and industries worldwide, focusing on digital modernization of land and spatial planning, urban analytics, affordable housing, transportation planning, and assessing built environments’ impact on public health and welfare.

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Technology Malaysia
  • M.S. in Urban Planning, Science and Research University-Tehran
  • M.S. in IT Management (Executive), The University of Melbourne

RESEARCH

  • Digital twins
  • GeoDesign
  • Geosimulation
  • Geospatial
  • Human-environment interaction modeling and simulation
  • Planning support systems
  • Urban analytics
  • Urban digital twins

PUBLICATIONS

  • Javaherian Pour, E., Atazadeh, B., Rajabifard, A., & Sabri, S. (2025). Review and assessment of 3D spatial data models for managing underground utility networks. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 157, 106219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2024.106219
  • Aghaabbasi, M., & Sabri, S. (2025). Potentials of digital twin system for analyzing travel behavior decisions. Travel Behaviour and Society, 38, 100902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2024.100902.
  • Xu, H., Omitaomu, F., Sabri, S. et al. Leveraging generative AI for urban digital twins: a scoping review on the autonomous generation of urban data, scenarios, designs, and 3D city models for smart city advancement. Urban Info 3, 29 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44212-024-00060-w.
  • Wang, M., Ashour, M., Mahdiyar, A., & Sabri, S. (2024). Opportunities and Threats of Adopting Digital Twin in Construction Projects: A Review. Buildings, 14(8), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14082349.
  • Sabri, S., & Witte, P. (2023). Digital technologies in urban planning and urban management. Journal of Urban Management, 12(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2023.02.003
  • Haghani, M., Sabri, S., De Gruyter, C., Ardeshiri, A., Shahhoseini, Z., Sanchez, T. W., & Acuto, M. (2023). The landscape and evolution of urban planning science. Cities, 136, 104261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104261
  • Assarkhaniki, Z., Sabri, S., Rajabifard, A., & Kahalimoghadam, M. (2023). Advancing sustainable development goals: Embedding resilience assessment. Sustainability Science, 18(5), 2405–2421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01372-7
  • Sabri, S., Chen, Y., Lim, D., Rajabifard, A., & Zhang, Y. (2022). AN INNOVATIVE TOOL FOR OPTIMISED DEVELOPMENT ENVELOPE CONTROL (DEC) ANALYSIS AND SCENARIO BUILDING IN DIGITAL TWIN. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLVIII-4-W4-2022, 117–123. https://doi.org/10.5194/ISPRS-ARCHIVES-XLVIII-4-W4-2022-117-2022
  • Tzachor, A., Sabri, S., Richards, C. E., Rajabifard, A., & Acuto, M. (2022). Potential and limitations of digital twins to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability 2022, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00923-7
  • Ambassador of Academia and Research, Digital Twin Consortium, 2023 – Present.
  •  Team Service Award, Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA), The University of Melbourne, 2022
  • Team Service Award, Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA), The University of Melbourne, 2022
  •  Best Postgraduate Award (PhD), School of Graduate Studies, University of Technology Malaysia, 2012.
  • Graduate Research Student Award (Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia), 2009 -2011.
  • Graduate Research Student Award (University of Technology Malaysia), 2010.
  • Best Poster Award, International Conference on Postgraduate Education, ICPE–4, 2010.
  • Best paper award, Faculty of Built Environment, Postgraduate Seminar, (University of Technology Malaysia), 2008.

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