2024

Theresia Morandell, Michael Wicki, and David Kaufmann recently published a new article in Landscape and Urban Planning. The article examines to what extent and how urban-rural linkages feature in spatial plans adopted by city administrations. They find that both physical and functional interdependencies between core cities and their surrounding municipalities within the so-called city-region are addressed.  

Elena Lutz and Simon Büchler have published a paper in the Journal of Urban Economics. The paper investigates the effects of upzoning in the Canton of Zurich. The results show that upzoning is successful in increasing the densification of the built environment. However, the effects are heterogeneous, with upzoning creating more housing more quickly when applied to areas with high housing demand and when the increase in allowed density is relatively large.  

Isabel Herrle has been an external doctoral candidate at SPUR since autumn 2024 and is employed in a research project at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, within the Institute for Sociocultural Community Development.

Yael is a new postdoctoral researcher supported by a grant from the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) to study whether policymakers respond to technology pilots projects in informal settlements.  

Katrin Hofer has successfully defended her doctoral thesis titled "Towards a more nuanced understanding of public participation in urban development".