معرفی
David Kaufmann is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Institute of Spatial and Landscape Development (IRL) at ETH Zurich, heading the Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) research group since September 2019. SPUR conducts practice-relevant research at the intersection of political science, planning, and urban studies to advance sustainable, democratic, and equitable urban development globally.
SPUR's research focuses on three core areas:
- Urban Policy: Investigating political decisions and planning processes for sustainable urban development, including studies on socioeconomic segregation, platform urbanism, and citizen participation.
- Spatial Planning and Development: Analyzing implementation of sustainable urban forms, with emphasis on densification, urban-rural coordination, and socio-ecological transformation of the built environment.
- Humanitarian Planning and Housing: Developing sustainable solutions for refugee housing through interdisciplinary humanitarian planning approaches.
Recent publications demonstrate SPUR's strong engagement with Swiss urban contexts, particularly in analyzing densification impacts and institutional frameworks for spatial coordination. These works reflect a consistent focus on policy-relevant research that bridges academic theory and practical urban challenges.
No scientific awards were documented for Prof. Kaufmann in the provided materials.
Prof. Kaufmann supervises doctoral, master's, and bachelor's students, including current doctoral researcher Alina Bärnthaler. His research is supported by competitive grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Federal Office for Housing, funding projects on urban densification, socio-ecological transformation, and municipal planning.
The SPUR group functions as an interdisciplinary team with members from political science, urban planning, geography, and economics. They maintain active collaborations through networks like the Center for Comparative and International Studies and contribute to ETH Zurich's Futures Cities Lab and the Humanitarian Planning Hub initiative.
