Research profile

Kristian is associate professor in strategic spatial planning at the Department of Sustainability and Planning at Aalborg University and a member of the Planning for Urban Sustainability (PLUS) research group.  

Kristian has researched strategic spatial planning projects at different scales from large transnational projects to smaller projects at neighbourhood scale, and across different sectors including urban planning, mobility, housing, and energy planning. Kristian is interested in how municipalities and other urban stakeholders can plan strategically for investments in new urban infrastructures, e.g. transport and energy infrastructure projects. Kristian is particularly interested in the link between planning and politics, and he has for the last 10 years been researching how spatial planning in Denmark increasingly has become neoliberalised.  

Kristian is currently involved in research projects investigating how housing associations are acting as strategic urban developers and are becoming important actors in urban redevelopments projects of deprived neighbourhoods.

Kristian is also involved in research projects investigating how the concept of Positive Energy Districts can be implemented in Denmark. Kristian is particularly interested in how the link between urban planning and energy planning can be strengthened to promote sustainable urban development.

Kristian has for more than 10 years been the programme coordinator of the master’s programme in Urban Planning and Management at Aalborg University, and Kristian is strongly committed to developing teaching pedagogy within Aalborg University’s focus on problem-based learning and UN’s sustainable development goals.