We aim to contribute to sustainable, democratic and just urban development through research and teaching. We enhance the understanding of and develop possible solutions for policy and planning challenges that emerge in urbanized regions globally. We are an interdisciplinary group working at the intersection of public policy, planning and urban studies.
Elena Lutz, Michael Wicki, and David Kaufmann recently published a new article in Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. The article examines the effects of densification on the socioeconomic population composition around train stations in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. They find that replacement construction increases inequality in access to housing and public transit.
Swiss cities are more likely to accept densification when densification projects provide affordable housing and green spaces compared to densification that is implemented through reduced regulations for housing construction. By prioritizing a socio-ecological densification, extensive planning procedures and delays might be minimized. This is shown in a report from the D-BAUG Chair of Spatial Development and Urban Policy.
In June 2023, Dr. Gabriela Debrunner, postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at IRL/SPUR, received the “Prix-ROREP” 2023 of the Swiss Study Association for Spatial Planning and Regional Policy (ROREP). Her funded project entitled «Who decides on our cities – how, and why? Actors, players, and net-works in the planning of our life spaces» aimed to find out more about the topic of landownership and property in Swiss cities.
A new article by Katrin Hofer, Michael Wicki and David Kaufmann was recently published in World Development. It examines people’s support for state-led participation in local infrastructure and housing provision in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Nadine Antenen joins the SPUR team and its Humanitarian Planning Hub as a researcher in the project "Flood Risk Mitigation for Humanitarian Settlements".
