Institute of Geography

Political Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development

News from our research and teaching

Towards transformative research and teaching –

Our group pursues a geography of global change. We conduct interdisciplinary research that is needed to address current challenges towards a sustainable and just world. We claim a transformative approach to our research and teaching. In this context, it is important for us to share the process and results of our daily work with the public in an accessible way.

 

24/06/2024

Collective housing and infrastructural provision in Ghana

In the social life of indigenous communities in Ghana, commonality and reciprocity are deeply rooted principles for organising key resources such as land and housing. How can collective provision of essential goods contribute to sustainable transformations?

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17/06/2024

Overlaps in Protected Area Designations – A Case Study in the Engiadina Bassa / Val Müstair

Worldwide, over a quarter of all protected areas are designated by two or more designations. What does this tell us about the utility of protected areas as spatial conservation instruments? In her thesis, Alexandra Murphy examined the case of four partially overlapping protected areas in Engadina Bassa/Val Müstair in Switzerland. Here she shows what relevance protected areas really have in socio-ecological systems.

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24/05/2024

Comparing Densification Strategies for Housing in the Netherlands and Switzerland

Urban densification is a crucial topic in contemporary urban planning, with many countries adopting policies to combat urban sprawl. Despite differences, these nations face similar challenges due to complex property rights in the existing built environment. In her PhD  project, Josje Bouwmeester examined how planning negotiations between planners and landowners shape housing outcomes in densification projects.
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13/05/2024

The crisis of care as an urban policy challenge: How to mitigate the crisis of social reproduction through municipal land and housing policy?

Our colleague, Dr. Deniz Ay, gave a guest lecture in our Political Ecology and Spatial Development course, where she provided a feminist political ecology perspective on how to operationalise “strong sustainability” objectives in urban redevelopment.
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07/05/2024

Communal Land Tenure: Decolonial resistance to vulnerabilization in Puerto Rico and Barbuda

In what ways do local communities use communal land tenure to resist the consequences of climate change and the processes of vulnerabilization imposed by the political and economic elites? 
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27/05/2024

Understanding property

Property rights are formative for how actors can gain access to resources, use them or exploit them. An integrative analysis of the distribution of resources is not possible without a stringent understanding of property itself.
An article by Jean-David Gerber

15/04/2024

Causes of a housing crisis: looking at restrictive building permit policies and zoning laws in California

In last week's session of our course on ‘Political Ecology and Spatial Development’, Paavo Monkkonen from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs presented his research on the housing crisis in the U.S. state of California.

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