Karin Pfeffer

Karin Pfeffer is Professor of Infrastructuring Urban Futures and Vice-dean Research at the Faculty of Geo-Information and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, the Netherlands (NL). She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Physical Geography from Utrecht University in 2003 and worked in the Social Sciences domain at the University of Amsterdam, the NL, prior to her appointment at ITC in 2017. With her team, she investigates how research can engage with, and participate in, the development of new urban planning practices addressing issues of urban sustainability. Key questions are how urban governance actors (state, corporates, citizens, academia) develop, organize and practice access to urban infrastructure and how geo-spatial technologies can enhance the analysis and planning of and access to urban infrastructures balancing sectorial priorities and social goals. She has participated in several Dutch and EU-funded research programmes, e.g. on spatial information infrastructures and spatial knowledge management in India. Her current projects focus, among others, on emerging urbanisation patterns in India, on informal economies and creative industries strategies in Indonesian Kampongs, on access to urban infrastructures or the design and planning of public spaces. She has published in the field of Urban Studies, Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation; has been Co-Editor of the book Geographies of Urban Governance; and Guest Editor of the Special Issues of Geo-Information and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Remote Sensing-Based Urban Planning Indicators. She coordinators the faculty-wide course on Global challenges, local action.