Photo of Timos Karpouzoglou

Timos Karpouzoglou

Associate Professor

The central focus of my research is on the socio-technical character of water in urban regions. I am particularly interested in the transformations needed to make water in cities more sustainable and how this relates to different actors in society.

Water infrastructure planning with humans, nature and society in cities and regions

Climate change and urbanisation pose risks to crucial water services. To better manage these risks, a deeper understanding of the social, technological and cultural conditions that affect water services is required.

This is why my focus is centrally on understanding how technologies, actor-related processes and policies affect this precious resource, with a particular interest in cities, peri-urban areas and regions.

My research focuses on the relationship between water, infrastructure and society with a core interest and specialisation in the field of science and technology studies (STS). From an STS perspective, I am driven by inter-disciplinary curiosity and the belief that water is crucial for sustainable development in cities and regions but that its sustainability is interdependent with societal, technological and cultural processes.

An important emphasis of my work is on combining theory with on the ground experiences and observations. I also mobilise historical and human geography perspectives in order to understand water more deeply and merge them with on the ground contemporary experiences. That ensures that my research insights always remain informed by the lived practices of people in different parts of the world and their historical contexts while at the same time advancing theoretical understandings of water.

While a central emphasis of my work has been on water infrastructure, I also have ongoing collaborations and interests in wastewater reuse, urban digitalisation and smart cities.

Research projects and collaboration

In my work and through specific projects and partnerships I actively collaborate with historians, human geographers, political scientists, artists, engineers, consultants and a range of decision-makers and experts from the public and private sector.

Ongoing research projects

2024 – 2028. Imagination as a tool for climate action: towards preparedness in the Swedish water sector (ImagineAction). Formas. Call: Extreme weather: effects, measures and solutions for a long-term sustainable and resilient society. 7MSEK (project leader)

2024 – 2028. Peri-urban water regimes and nature (PeriNature). Formas. 3MSEK (project leader)

2020 – 2024. Examining nature-society relations through urban infrastructure (NATURE). Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. 4MSEK (project leader). Project page: www.kth.se/nature

Completed research projects

2019 – 2023. Making the water flow: Conflict(s) and cooperation between formal and informal urban water regimes in Asia and Africa(WaterFlow). Formas. Call: Future Research Leaders. 2MSEK (project leader)

2018 – 2022. Ensuring sustainability and equality of water and energy systems during actor-driven disruptive innovation(SEQWENS).Formas. Call: Nationella forskningsprogrammet för hållbart samhällsbyggande. (9MSEK) (co-investigator)


Publications

2023

Mary Lawhon, Gloria Nsangi Nakyagaba, Timos Karpouzoglou (2023) Towards a modest imaginary? Sanitation in Kampala beyond the modern infrastructure ideal Urban Studies, Vol. 60, p. 146-165 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Mary Lawhon, Alexander Follmann, Boris Braun, Natasha Cornea, Clemens Greiner, Prince Guma, Timos Karpouzoglou, Javier Revilla Diez, Seth Schindler, Sophie Schramm, Franziska Sielker, Gideon Tups, Sumit Vij, Peter Dannenberg (2023) Making heterogeneous infrastructure futures in and beyond the global south Futures: The journal of policy, planning and futures studies, Vol. 154, Article 103270 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
David Nilsson, Timos Karpouzoglou, Jörgen Wallin, Pär Blomkvist, Farzin Golzar, Viktoria Martin (2023) Is on-property heat and greywater recovery a sustainable option? A quantitative and qualitative assessment up to 2050 Energy Policy, Vol. 182, Article 113727 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Pär Blomkvist, Timos Karpouzoglou, David Nilsson, Jörgen Wallin (2023) Entrepreneurship and alignment work in the Swedish water and sanitation sector Technology in society, Vol. 74, Article 102280 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Vishal Narain, Sumit Vij, Timos Karpouzoglou (2023) Demystifying piped water supply: Formality and informality in (peri)urban water provisioning Urban Studies, Vol. 60, p. 1066-1082 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research

Teaching

Program

Courses

Undergraduate level

  • City Districts and Sustainability, 709G26
  • Scientific perspectives and methods in investigations and research studies II, 709G14
  • The ideas and history of social planning, 709G06
  • Bachelor thesis in urban and spatial planning, 709G17

Advanced level

  • Strategic Urban and Regional Planning, 709A01
  • Planning for a Sustainable Information Society, 709A05
  • Master's Thesis in Strategic Urban and Regional Planning, 709A16

CV

Employments

  • 2024 – present
    Associate professor, Technology and Environment, Department of Thematic Studies, Technology & Social Change (TEMAT), Linköping University
  • 2018 – 2024
    Researcher, Division for History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH
  • 2014 – 2018
    Post doc, Public Administration and Policy group, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
  • 2012 – 2014
    Post doc, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Sweden

Education

  • 2012
    PhD Science & Technology Policy Studies, SPRU, University of Sussex, UK
  • 2007
    Master (MSc) in Environmental Technology, Imperial College London, UK.
  • 2006
    Bachelor (BSc) in Ecological Science with Honours in Environmental Sciences, Edinburgh, University, UK

Supervision

Organisation