معرفی
Dr. Irina van Aalst is an Associate Professor of Urban Geography at Utrecht University's Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning within the Faculty of Geosciences. She holds roles as Program Coordinator for the Master's program Urban & Economic Geography and Faculty Ambassador for Community Engaged Learning. Her research focuses on urban public spaces, nightlife cultures, and children's spatial experiences, emphasizing participatory methods and sustainable urban futures. She earned her PhD in Social Geography and Planning at Utrecht University. Van Aalst is actively involved in interdisciplinary projects like the Dynamics of Youth initiative and serves on boards of organizations like Stichting Journallab and Aorta architecture center.
Research Interests: Her work bridges urban and cultural geography, exploring themes such as risky play environments, multi-residential family dynamics, and surveillance in nightlife districts. Recent projects include co-creating urban methods with marginalized groups and examining gender-sensitive urban planning through the HER City initiative. She also investigates how urban redevelopment can be socially inclusive through participatory approaches.
Grants & Projects: Leads or co-leads projects funded by Utrecht University and external grants, including 'Planning HER City' (gender-sensitive urban design) and 'Redeveloping Urban Neighborhoods' (living lab research in Utrecht's Overvecht). She has collaborated on NWO-funded studies like 'Surveillance in Urban Nightscapes.'
Labs/Teams: Central to the Dynamics of Youth strategic theme at Utrecht University, she coordinates the 'Where do I belong?' hub examining children's spatial belonging in multi-resident families. She also contributes to the Open Cities initiative under the IOS research program.
