Marcus Jahnke holds a Ph.D. in design and is director of the Centre for Sustainable Urban Futures in Gothenburg, Sweden. The centre is devoted to co-creation of knowledge and solutions between academics, professionals and other stakeholders in the field of urban development in the Västra Götaland Region, and is a collaboration between the public partners: the City of Gothenburg, the County Administration Board of Västra Götaland (VGR), the Västra Götaland Region and the Gothenburg Region (GR), and the university and institute partners: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. The centre builds on the experiences of the international Mistra Urban Futures programme that was funded by MISTRA and SIDA between 2010 and 2019 and spearheaded knowledge development about accessible, green and fair cities.

Jahnke’s research interests range from governance challenges for municipalities in dealing with climate change and social issues to norm-critical and gender inclusive innovation and change in urban planning. He is especially interested in how different knowledge traditions can cooperate better in tackling wicked problems, including the relevance of integrating the humanities and arts in processes of sustainable change and transition.

Photo: Samuel Michaëlsson