Our research group warmly welcomes two new staff members

Wilma Nordlander brings international perspectives

Wilma Nordlander is a new member of the team. She comes from Stockholm in Sweden and recently completed her Master's degree in Urban Studies and Planning at the Universities of Helsinki and Aalto in Finland. Prior to this, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Umeå University in Sweden.

With her international academic background and expertise in urban and regional planning, she enriches the work of the department and brings valuable perspectives from different European planning contexts.

She would like to continue her academic career at the research group and start her doctorate on the topic of data centers and AI factories in the near future.

Leonard Can Stratmann joins the research group as a Research Associate in a third-party funded project

Since the beginning of June, Leonard has been working on the DFG-funded research project “Delays in planning and decision-making in infrastructure planning – identifying the causes using qualitative comparative analysis and case studies”. The aim of the project is to use around 30 case studies to identify the conditions and causes of delays in the expansion and new construction of urban railroad lines. The study looks at both preliminary planning processes and planning approval procedures and builds on the department's earlier work on metropolitan governance and regional transport policy.

Leonard already gained a wide range of experience in research and practice during his studies. For several years, he worked as a student assistant at the department's Study and Project Center. He also worked at the Institute of Work and Technology in the research area of spatial capital under the direction of Prof. Stefan Gärtner. Most recently, he was employed there as a research assistant in the "FAB.Region Bergisches Städtedreieck" project. His work focused on issues relating to the regional circular economy, in particular the development and design of measures and approaches to measuring impact.

We warmly welcome Wilma and Leonard and look forward to working with them.