My research mainly departs from cyling forms of mobility and investigates how movement intersects with landscapes, planning and governance regimes on municipal and local levels. I am furthermore intersted in understanding how practices considered sustainable–such as cycling, repair and maintenance– relate to one another, and their implication for societal transitions towards enhanced sustainability.
Besides research, I teach and supervise at Bachelor's and Master's levels mainly in Landscape Architecture.
I am currently responsible for the 3rd year Bachelor's course Studio-Landskapsplanering (sv) as well as involved in co-organising the landscape planning and governance element of the Introductory Course to Landscape Architecture (sv).
On a Master's level, I am regularly involved in co-organising and teaching the course Roles and Methods for Landscape Architecture in Comprehansive Planning.
I am currently leading the Movium partnership project (sv) Inclusive Cycling Mobilities in Uppsala (sv) in collaboration with Uppsala Municipality, the local Red Cross and Cycling without Age. The projects aims at examining the benefits of, and barriers to, assisted cycling services for elderly (care home) residents in Uppsala.
In February 2024, I defended my doctoral thesis (Not) Representing Cycling that combines different socimaterial perspectives on cycling and empirically draws material gathered in the context of Uppsala.
For 2025 I am taking on the role as SLU Urban Futures Hub Coordinator at Ultuna Campus in Uppsala. In this role I represent the Urban Futures platform and act as a contact point for Urban Futures' strategic work as well as current and future collaborations particularly in the Uppsala region.
Since 2019, I organise and manage the Ultuna Bike Kitchen, a community repair space, where anyone can get assistance and tools to repair their cycle for free. The Bike Kitchen received seed funding from the SLU Climate Fund.
I have an academic background in Environmental and Energy Sciences with a specialization in Environmental Management (B.Sc.). During my B.Sc. I started working on questions concerning the promotion of cycling. During my Master´s studies in Environmental Science in Europe (EnvEuro) at the University of Copenhagen and SLU, I continued along a management track and increasingly focused on issues of land use conflicts and planning. I concluded my master studies with a Master´s thesis on the acceptance of coastal wind power in Denmark.
I gained working experience as a student assistant at the environmental consultancy Tauw in the Netherlands and Germany and as University research assistant.
I mainly supervise Bachelor's students in Landscape Architecture and have supervision experience in the Sustinable Development Master's programme.
Valentini, D. (2024). (Not) Representing Cycling : exploring the subjugation and multiplicity of cycling. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54612/a.6ra6fdg0nn
Valentini, D., & Butler, A. (2023). Bike Kitchens and the sociomateriality of practice change: exploring cycling-repair relations. Urban, Planning and Transport Research, 11(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21650020.2023.2259235
Valentini, D., Wangel, J., & Holmgren, S. (2023). Representations of urban cycling in sustainability transitions research: a review. European Transport Research Review, 15(1), 28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-023-00603-3