PhD scholarship within urban sustainability

About the position
The PhD scholarship holder will be affiliated with the Research Group on Urban Sustainability, which is part of the Section of Urban and Regional Planning. The main focus of the Research Group on Urban Sustainability is on environmental and social aspects of sustainable development and its implications for urban and regional planning. Key fields of research within this overall scope are:
Sustainability-relevant impacts of the spatial development of cities and urban regions (e.g. consequences in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, soil for food production, health, social equity)
Driving forces, structures, discourses and actors influencing the kind of urban development taking place, hereunder the role of urban planning in fostering or hampering sustainability
Normative aspects of the concept of sustainable development (including environmental justice) and how these are articulated and given priority

Description

Main tasks/ Research Project
The PhD project is expected to contribute to the development of knowledge about sustainability impacts of different urban development strategies and /or about social, cultural and political conditions enabling or hampering a transition towards a sustainable urban development in a Norwegian/North European context. It is desirable, but not a requirement, that applicants’ proposed PhD project addresses one, or possibly a combination of two or more, of the following topics:
Eco-villages – a rural model for sustainable settlements?
Mobility, accessibility and availability: Impacts on satisfaction with life, social cohesion, social justice, and environmental sustainability
Polarization or equalizing? Social segregation, social inequality and environmental justice in compact urban development versus outward spatial urban expansion
Financial outlays resulting from compact and dispersed urban development: who pays and who gains?
Ecological modernization as a hegemonic discourse, and the opportunities of alternative discourses

Academic Qualifications
The successful applicant must have a MS degree in urban and regional planning, engineering, land management, architecture or relevant social sciences such as geography or sociology. The applicant must document expertise and interest in the research subject.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Project proposal
Master thesis
Scientific papers, other written works
Relevant work experiences
Project work
Administrative and organizational experience

Nr of positions available : 1