Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Urban and regional planning plays a key role in building a just, sustainable future. We take planning forward by educating skilled professionals, conducting high-impact research and working closely with both public and private partners.
About us
NMBU's Department of Urban and Regional Planning constitutes a dynamic academic environment of students and researchers working to shape the society of the future. With cities growing at record speed, and a demand to redesign new land areas, there is an urgent need to steer development in a safe, viable and sustainable direction.
Research
At NMBU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, research advances knowledge on how to plan and develop urban and rural areas within municipalities and regions, in both national and international contexts.
The department engages with contemporary challenges that shape the present and future of territories, contributing to more just, sustainable, and resilient forms of spatial development.
Our research adopts an interdisciplinary approach that integrates methodological and theoretical perspectives on urban sustainability, environmental governance, climate adaptation, land use, housing, mobility, and the socio-spatial implications of planning. With a critical focus on policy and practice, we examine how planning processes influence social, economic, and ecological relations.
The department also conducts research on learning processes and pedagogies in planning education and professional development, fostering reflective and transformative approaches to planning practice.
Research groups, centres and networks
- SITRAP Centre for Integrated and Transdisciplinary Education in Planning (Centrte for Excellence in Education)
- Centre for Landscape Democracy (CLAD)
- Environmental Planning and Natural Resource Governance
- Network for Mobility and Social Sustainability
- Planning, Law, and Property Rights
- Territorialization and Methods in Planning (TMP)
- Urban Sustainability
Research projects- Co-creating knowledge for local adaptation to climate change in least developed countries (COLOCAL)
- Developing synergies between the bioeconomy and regional food systems for a sustainable future (SYNAGRI)
- European Cities Against Segregation (ECASS)
- Innovativ metodikk for besøksforvaltning i regionalt plan- og utviklingsarbeid
- Jordvern i Frogn, Nesodden, Nordre Follo og Ås
- Land-use change and changing windpower licensing: Process, Practices and Pressure (WINDGOV)
- PlanCoast: Management and planning of property and rights in coastal zones
- Planning for sustainable second-home development (SECPLAN)
- Public Space in European Social Housing (PuSH)
- ReHousIn: Reducing housing equalities
- Resource sharing in residential buildings: Innovative approaches to shared, circular mobility space solutions for sustainable consumption (RESHARE)
- The social equality of Nature-based Solutions to urban heat stress
- Twin Fjord
- WALKMORE - How to get people to walk more in small Norwegian towns
PublicationsContact us
Circus building
Universitetstunet 3
Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)
1433 Ås
Interactive map
Contact info for our staff
NMBU central switchboard: +47 67 23 00 00