Research profile

Carsten Jahn Hansen (CJH) is Associate Professor in sustainable place development and planning. CJH has a base in Department of Sustainability and Planning and the research group Planning for Urban Sustainability (PLUS) at Aalborg University.

CJH focuses on innovations in planning concerned with sustainable place-making and spatial development. This entails attention to both formal and informal planning spaces, and discussions of planning in terms of governance, coordination, organisation, and participation. CJH primarily studies planning processes in local and regional cases, which provides insight into place-sensitive and situational approaches, strategic planning and community development in both urban and rural areas. It also creates reflection on the role of planning cultures and trust relations in shaping or transforming places. In terms of topics, CJH investigate how planning attempts to deal with a mixture of multiple challenges, such as climate change, balanced socio-economic development and environmentally sustainable development. This often leads to discussions of the complexity of, and identification of particularly relevant factors, when building planning spaces for improving the quality of life in urban neighborhoods, suburbs, towns, villages and coastal and rural communities.

CJH has a PhD in Spatial Planning and a Master's in Surveying, Planning and Land Management from Aalborg University. CJH is a Danish representative in the PLANNORD research network, the AESOP Nordic Planning thematic group, EURA (European Urban Research Association), and ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observatory Network). He is also a representative in Dansk Byplanlaboratorium (The Danish Town Planning Institute) and the Expert Group of PLAN22+ on climate change in local planning in Denmark. CJH has delivered work for all policy levels, e.g. OECD, EU, national governments, regions and municipalities and for national research council assessment panels in Sweden and Norway.

he has been a member of research council assessment panels in Sweden and Norway.