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Ida Grundel

Associate Professor, Docent

My research is primarily about local and regional development, spatial organisation and planning related to a transition to a more sustainable society. I am programme director of the Bachelor's programme in Urban and Regional Planning.

Transformation and sustainable development

Currently, I am involved in two research projects at Linköping university. The first project is on infrastructure in Swedish municipalities with a decreasing population, with a specific focus on energy systems.  The project runs from 2019 until 2021 and is financed by the Swedish Energy Agency. The second project started in December 2020 until the end of 2023 and concerns the role of urban and regional planning in promoting sustainability energy transitions in the Swedish transport sector. This project is also financed by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Research on local and regional development 

My research has mainly touched upon aspects of local and regional development and planning. In my thesis: Becoming the Attractive Region – A Study of
Contemporary Regionalization Processes I explored different expressions of regionalism(s) and regionalisation processes. The two case studies represented two different kind of regions, Värmland and the Scandinavian 8 Million City. The study showed how a strong focus on city-regions as growth engines, competitiveness and a place attractiveness have become the norm for regional development and planning. 

After finalizing my thesis I was part of several research projects on the transformation to a sustainable forest-based bioeconomy. The main focus of the projects has been on the role of regional innovation systems in the transformation to a more sustainable society.  A transition to sustainable forest-based bioeconomy does not only involve a change of production systems but also a change of consumer behaviours, norms and values. The challenge of achieving sustainability is the need to transform the whole society, which requires structural changes beyond production chains. We need more knowledge of sustainability transition processes, for example, about the role of civil society in developing social innovations, ecosystem services or active participation in regional innovation systems.

Teaching

I am programme director of the Bachelor's programme in Urban and Regional Planning. I am currently teaching in courses in human geography and urban and regional planning in the bachelor and masters programmes at TEMA T. I am also supervising a PhD student within the research school Just Transitions.

Publications

2024

Florian Michahelles, Andreas Riener, Ida Grundel, Suzan Boztepe, Kristina Trygg, Habakuk Israel, Bastian Pfleging, Mettina Veenstra, Philipp Wintersberger (2024) Urban-engage: Pioneering urban planning with citizen-driven 15-minute city solutions Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.. MCI-WS16: The Urban Future is Now: Uniting Powers for Inclusive and Sustainable Design of Smart Cities. (Conference paper) Continue to DOI
J. Broz, Vangelis Angelakis, M. Penttinen, A. Schon, A. Jain, T. Tichy, F. Del-Busto, I. Sioutis, Tina Schmid Neset, Ida Grundel, T. A. Carstensen (2024) Designing an evaluation methodology for the Living Labs of the ELABORATOR project 2024 SMART CITIES SYMPOSIUM PRAGUE, SCSP (Conference paper) Continue to DOI
Ida Grundel, Karin Eliasson, Tina-Simone Neset (2024) ELABORATOR co-creation playbook: Deliverable 2.3
Ida Grundel, Kristina Trygg (2024) A tale of urban experimentation in three Swedish municipalities European Planning Studies (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Hanna Martin, Ida Grundel, Margareta Dahlström (2023) Reconsidering actor roles in regional innovation systems: transformative industrial change in the forest-based bioeconomy Regional studies, Vol. 57, p. 1635-1648 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research

Copenhagen

Elaborator

Elaborator is the Horizon EU European Living Lab on designing sustainable urban mobility towards climate-neutral cities.

Elaborator
view of city

District heating in shrinking municipalities

When the population in many Swedish municipalities decreases, district heating companies are faced with new challenges and opportunities. The project focuses on the consequences for these actors.
People on bicycles at Skeppsbron in Stockholm.

The role of urban and regional planning in promoting sustainability energy transitions in the transport sector

Planning for a sustainable energy transition in the transport sector is becoming increasingly important, especially with the implementation of the global sustainability goals, so also in Swedish municipalities and regions.

Supervision

A group of students are working sitting down by tables

Just Transitions Graduate School

The aim of Just Transitions graduate school is to build knowledge and competence around how to implement just climate transition in a local context. The graduate school is based on seven doctoral projeccts and a platform for knowledge exchange.

Organisation

Bilden visar byggnadsarbetare. The picture shows workers.

Technology and Social Change (TEMAT)

So much of our lives depend on technology. The development and use of technology creates possibilities as well as social, ethical and political dilemmas. That’s what we study at Tema T – Technology and Social Change.
Drone image of the Tema building at Campus Valla

Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA)

In an increasingly complicated world, there is a need for researchers that can handle both breadth and depth, and can collaborate across disciplinary borders. Major societal questions are studied from an interdisciplinary perspective at TEMA.

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