Katrin Hofer begins PhD
Katrin Hofer begins her PhD in Participatory Urban Governance on December 1st 2019.
On December 1st, Katrin Hofer (*1990) joined the Spatial Development and Urban Policy Research Group at ETH Zürich. Supervised by Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann, her PhD-project examines the intersection of participation and governance in urban development planning.
Katrin Hofer focuses her research on participatory governance processes in infrastructure projects. She analyses how urban projects are planned and implemented and how they make use of participatory planning instruments. Her research examines citizens’ democratic preferences and aims at understanding how participatory governance influences citizens’ acceptance of spatial transformations in cities and how it may reframe urban social justice.
Katrin holds an MSc in Urban Development Planning with distinction from the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London and a BA in Social Work and Social Policy from the University of Fribourg. Before joining ETH Zürich, she has been engaged in applied research and development projects in Europe, Africa and Asia. She has accompanied participatory processes and conducted research linked to civil society engagement, neighbourhood and settlement development, citizenship, land governance and pro-poor urban housing.