Dr. Zorana Matić is a Visiting Associate Teaching Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Northeastern University and Core Faculty with the Center for Transformative Media. Her work is multi-scalar and nested at the intersections of design, human behavior, and health and well-being. She examines how people, the built environment, and our behavioral choices interrelate, and aims to develop design solutions that support health, improve experience, enhance communication and teamwork, increase efficiency, and promote safer behavior. In addition to urban-based research, she also explores how spatial design impacts individual experience and organizational outcomes at the scale of buildings and healthcare facilities.
Dr. Matić’s recent research focuses on gentrification, health, spatial justice, and public space use in legacy communities—particularly in historically Black neighborhoods in Atlanta and Boston’s Chinatown. Her work on the role of design in infection control and healthcare worker safety has been published in leading peer-reviewed design and medical journals, including HERD, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
At Northeastern, she coordinates the Urban Housing Design studio and teaches courses in architecture, urban design, and health-focused research and design methods. Previously, Dr. Matić was a Future Faculty Fellow at Northeastern University, a Lecturer in Urban Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an Adjunct Faculty at the Boston Architectural College. She currently serves as Research Chair on the Board of the Foundation for Health Environments Research (FHER).
Dr. Matić received her B.Arch and M.Arch (Urbanism and Urban Planning) from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and a Ph.D. in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where her dissertation was supported by a Ph.D. Fellowship and received the 2018 EarthShare Award. She was named 2020 Researcher of the Year by Healthcare Design Magazine.
Research and Publication Highlights
2025 Matić, Z., Oh, Y., Grindle, A., DuBose, J. R., & Lim, L. Keeping healthcare workers safe during a pandemic: Evaluating doffing area design for safer removal of personal protective equipment. Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867241311273
2025 Matić, Z., Lee, M., Song, L., & Guo, E. (April, 18). Gathering spaces to gentrified places: Development and threat to third places in Boston’s Chinatown. Paper presented at the Asian American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Boston, MA.
2025 Matić, Z. (March, 28). What if AI were used as a tool for urban justice, memory, and cultural resilience? Panel presentation at Media in Motion, Center for Transformative Media, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
2024 Song, L., Matić, Z., & Messier, R. Report: Open spaces in Boston Chinatown: Site observation study 2023–2024. Anti-Displacement Studio, Northeastern University.
2024 Song, L., Matić, Z., & Messier, R. (June, 20). Reclaiming green open spaces in Boston Chinatown. Presented at EDRA55: Human-Centric Environments, Portland, OR.
2024 Machry, H., & Matić, Z. (June, 21). Designing for pandemic preparedness: What we learned from Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks about flexibility and human-centered design. Presented at EDRA55: Human-Centric Environments, Portland, OR.
2024 (forthcoming) Matić, Z., Machry, H., & Jacob, J. T. Architecture can keep the healthcare workers safe: Doffing area design to improve safety and workflow in caring for patients with serious communicable diseases. In Zimring, C., Lim, L., & Stroebel, R. (Eds.), Using the built environment as a tool for healthcare improvement. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
2023 Northeastern University. TIER 1 Seed Grant: Commercial and Residential Gentrification and Strategies to Prevent Displacement in Boston Neighborhoods (Principal Investigator: Zorana Matić). Awarded $50,000.
2023 Machry, H., Matić, Z., & Jacob, J. Designing to promote safety and occupational health in COVID-19 care: Lessons learned about areas for doffing of PPE in inpatient units. Paper presented at SALUS – European Healthcare Design Conference, London, UK.
2023 Matić, Z., Sala, M., Tonetto, L. M., Campiglia, G. C., Morgan, J., DuBose, J. R., Zimring, C. M., & Kraft, C. S. Understanding experience of patients with highly infectious diseases during extended isolation: A design perspective. Health Environments Research & Design Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867221128
Departments
Architecture
Education
- Ph.D., Architecture, Specialization: Urban Design, Minor: Design & Health, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021
- M.Arch, Urbanism and Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, 2009
- B. Arch, Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, 2006
Awards
- 2020 Researcher of the Year Award, Healthcare Design Magazine
- 2018 EarthShare Fellowship, Architecture Foundation of Georgia – AIA Georgia
Research Focus
- Design and health
- Spatial justice
- Behavioral design
- Urban public space
- Human-environment interaction
- Healthcare environments
Courses Taught
- ARCH 2140 – Urban Housing Studio
- ARCH 3170 / LARC 3170 – Architecture, Infrastructure, and the City Studio
- ARCH 3450 – Advanced Architectural Communications
- ARCH 2130 – Site, Space, Program
- ARCH 5115 – Options Studio