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PhD position Interactive land use planning f/m

VU University Amsterdam
Amsterdam - Netherlands

General

The applicant will be based in the Department of Spatial Analysis and Decision Support at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM). This department is an international research group of about thirty researchers, faculty members and PhD students. The department has a leading role in spatial analysis of complex environmental issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The group works on a wide range of topics studying how socio-economic and biophysical processes lead to the emergence of spatial patterns. Research topics include adaptation to climate change, mapping and modeling of ecosystem services and the development of methods for spatial analysis and decision support. The group aims at publishing high-quality interdisciplinary research in peer-reviewed journals and works together with the other departments in IVM on economic, governance and environmental issues.

Tasks

Adaptation and spatial planning have become increasingly interrelated. As a result land use change plays a central role in the development of adaptation strategies. Within this project we will describe the relevant decision processes and try to identify the information needs by the various stakeholders at different stages of these processes. We will develop interactive workshops to facilitate problem analysis, problem identification, design of management alternatives evaluation of alternatives and feedback to design. The project will focus on the development of spatial design approaches using a mixture of formal design routines, optimization, spatial analysis/evaluation, and visualization. Techniques will be integrated in a spatial decision support framework implemented in hardware suitable for interactive use in a workshop. Within this project maps are used as the main means of communication. Since most people use reference maps, such as road maps, they are familiar with their use and are happy to use maps as a source of information. In practice effective use of maps is a difficult task for many people. A task that becomes more difficult if the information density of the map increases and the direct link with reality gets weaker. Tools will be developed to support map related tasks within the negotiation process. This will include tools to support generation of alternatives. Tools to support evaluation and feedback to design. Tools to support negotiation and, finally, tools linked to spatial objectives such as connectivity, shape and fragmentation.

1. Analysis of the planning process and design of workshops;

2. Development of tools;

Job summary

Employer:	VU University Amsterdam
Location:	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Education:	Master's Degree
Sector:	Academic
Salary:
Job Type:	Permanent
Hours:	Full-Time
Posted:	21st May 2010
Apply By:	19th August 2010