I hold a MA in architecture, and I am currently doing doctoral studies at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management. My research interests concern public places and how to understand them from a social perspective. I am inspired by observing public life and the everyday dynamics of the urban landscape. Main influences are ethnography and sociology.
With my doctoral thesis, I try to develop a theory of how places are shared. The kind of place-sharing that I try to understand and describe is about usages and socio-spatial phenomenas that are vague and seemingly uminportant, but that over time builds up to small place-specific cultures. One way to put it would be that I approach “meeting places” and ask: What is the meeting here? How does the meeting really happen at this place? My doctoral thesis is finished during 2022.
I belong to the subject area group Design of Urban Landscapes, and besides doing research I teach in several courses in landscape architecture and sustainable urban development. Teaching commitments have, among others, involved the courses Studio 1: Landskap som plan verklighet och idé, Studio 2: Staden och boplatsen, and Design project: Site, Concept and Theory. I also supervise master thesis. During spring 2022, I lead the course Independent Project in Landscape Architecture (EX0845, 15 hp).
I am currently part of The Öresund Design Research Seminars and the research network Where are the Women in Scandinavian Landscape Architecture?
Previously, I have had the role of facilitator in the SLU Landscape PhD forum, with which I have arranged and moderated workshops, seminars and doctoral colloquiums. I have also had the role of PhD department representative in the PhD council.
Work before engaging in doctoral studies includes research assistance and teaching at the School of Architecture (LTH, Lund University) and the programme Architecture, Visualization and Communication (Malmö University). I have also been the administrator of the Swedish research school in architecture ResArc, by which I was part of organizing the conference Co-laborations — Sharing Authorship and Space in Architectural and Urban Research.
Publications
Edensor, T., Kärrholm, M. & Wirdelöv, J. (2018). Rhythmanalysing the urban runner: Pildammsparken, Malmö. Applied Mobilities, 3(2), pp. 97-114. (Link)
Kärrholm, M. & Wirdelöv, J. (2019). The neighbourhood in pieces: the fragmentation of local public space in a Swedish housing area. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(5), pp. 870-887. (Link)
Wirdelöv, J. (2020). The trash bin on stage: On the sociomaterial roles of street furniture. Urban Planning, 5(4), 121-131. (Link)
Wirdelöv, J. (Forthcoming). Eye corner encounters in Pildammsparken: The urban park as meeting place.
Conference presentations
2017 NGM — Geographies of inequalities, Stockholm (Track: Territorial Stigmatization in a Scandinavian Context)
2017 ECLAS — Creation/Reaction, London (Doctoral colloquium)
2018 AESOP — Making Space for Hope, Gothenburg (Track: Urban Form and Structure)
2018 AESOP — Public Space and Urban Culture, Nikosia (Track: Public Space and Identity)
2018 Urbanism at Borders, Aberdeen
2019 ECLAS — Lessons from the past, visions for the future, Ås (Doctoral colloquium)
2019 IFLA World Congress — Common Ground, Oslo (Theme: Participation and democracy)
2019 PlanNord — Future challenges for Nordic planning, Ås (Track: Enhancing Livability in Urban Areas)
2021 ECLAS — Stop and Think, Ultuna (Track: Landscape imaginaries, citizenship, belonging, otherness, biopolitics + Doctoral colloquium)
Other presentations include Urbana löpspår (collaborative seminar at SLU, 2017), Arkitekturdagarna (public presentation at Form/Design Center, 2018), Popup breakfast (Green Innovation Park, 2019), and an interview in Landskapspodden med Lisa och Linn.