Martin Emanuel appointed new programme coordinator for SLU Urban Futures

Tell us about your background.

I have been a senior lecturer in urban and regional planning at the Department of Urban and Rural Development at SLU in Ultuna for the past year. My academic path has been quite diverse. I originally trained as an engineer in engineering physics, and then went on to earn a PhD in history of technology. In recent years, I have researched cities, mobility and societal transitions, both from historical and contemporary perspectives. I am interested in the interplay between planning, the built environment and people's everyday lives – and in how this interplay can both hinder and enable change.

What attracted you to the position as programme coordinator at SLU Urban Futures?

I saw it as an opportunity to broaden my perspective beyond my own research and contribute to something larger. Many of the major challenges facing cities simply cannot be understood or addressed from a single disciplinary perspective. SLU also has excellent conditions for fostering unexpected and exciting collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. SLU is not traditionally known for its urban research, but the university has a broad range of relevant expertise – from soils, water and ecological processes to landscape architecture, planning and economics. If we can bring these areas of knowledge together, I believe SLU, in collaboration with other societal actors, can contribute to more sustainable cities.

What do you hope to contribute?

My somewhat unconventional academic path means that I have approached different questions through quite different disciplinary lenses. I think that can be useful when it comes to understanding different researchers' perspectives and, when needed, acting as a “translator” between disciplines. I have also led research projects of different kinds and scales, from smaller projects of my own to larger multidisciplinary and international collaborations. This has given me a good understanding of research funding and experience in developing new research projects. I believe that will be useful in identifying opportunities within SLU and helping to develop ideas into collaborations and projects that might otherwise never have come about.

Which issues do you find particularly interesting at the moment?

First, I am interested in how interdisciplinary research actually works in practice. SLU Urban Futures aims to foster collaboration across disciplinary boundaries, but that is easier said than done. I look forward to seeing how different disciplinary perspectives meet in practice – when does it work, why does it become challenging, and how does something genuinely new emerge?

If I were to choose one specific urban challenge, sustainable mobility would be high on my list. Transport accounts for a large share of cities' climate impact, while the way we organise mobility affects everything from land use and air quality to everyday life and social inequalities. Several issues currently high on the public agenda, such as preparedness and climate adaptation, are also highly relevant in urban contexts. And here I would particularly emphasise that understanding how change can be achieved is just as important as finding technological solutions.

What is your life like outside work?

I live in Stockholm with my family and commute to Ultuna. During the summer months, I spend as much time as possible at our summer house, and at the moment I am eager to find more time to get out on the water in a small boat we recently bought. Otherwise, I enjoy playing badminton and reading whenever I have the time.