A PhD position in Human Geography, investigating how discourses around land rent shape (un)sustainable urban futures in Switzerland and in the Netherlands

About us and your job

The Institute of Geography of the University of Bern commits itself to a geography embracing social and physical sciences to contribute knowledge for societal transformation. It understands that interdisciplinarity is required to analyze human-environment interactions and to address current challenges toward a sustainable world.

As a successful candidate, you will be part of the international research project “Follow the money! REconstructing Belief systems behind Urban Intensification and Land-rent Distribution (REBUILD)”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Focusing on case studies in Switzerland and in the Netherlands, the project aims to better understand urban densification as a contested process of land-rent creation and redistribution, exposing tensions between actors, values, discourses, and representations. We hypothesize that entrenched discourses around land rent reproduce growth-oriented logics in densification projects, systematically obstructing the achievement of densification's proclaimed sustainability goals. You will be affiliated with the research group of Prof. Jean-David Gerber and work closely together with 2 other PhD students, one postdoc, and partners at the other universities involved in REBUILD.

Specifically, the PhD position at the University of Bern focuses on how public interests and requirements, such as those related to affordability, care infrastructure or public access, are negotiated within densification projects. By revealing how discourses around land rent influence the project-level governance, this research project identifies leverage points for steering densification towards more sustainable trajectories and enriches the postgrowth debate in spatial planning.

Under the guidance of the senior project members of the project, who are based at the University of Bern, Utrecht University, the University of Lausanne, and the Technical University of Delft, as well as in different professional organizations, you will conduct your main research in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Tasks

• Analyze how densification is performed in cities, how actors legitimate their positions through discourses, how institutional arrangements resolve – or not – the tensions between land-rent creation (economic viability), land-rent redistribution (social equity), and alignment with planetary boundaries (ecological limits).
• Conduct field research in the Netherland and Switzerland over extended periods of time
• Collaborate closely with colleagues and partners of the REBUILD project in Switzerland and the Netherlands; participate in project publications, research workshops and other events; build a network with practitioners; and contribute to the project's overall communication strategy
• Present your research at scientific conferences
• Publish results in international peer-reviewed journals

Requirements

• An excellent Master's degree in Human Geography or related social sciences disciplines
• Methodological skills in case study analysis and comparative analysis are desired; experience in institutional analysis or discourse analysis, and GIS, is a plus
• Excellent command of English and at least one language of the project: German, French or Dutch
• Demonstrated interest in urban development is desirable, as well as good knowledge of the Swiss or Dutch planning system.
• You are a team player, who can work in a precise, engaged, and self-organized manner. In addition, you must have the skills and commitment to work in an interdisciplinary field.