University Assistant

Sustainable urban and regional development | European cohesion policy | Policy transfer and governance processes | Climate change adaptation

Barbara Demeterova is a researcher and lecturer at the Research Unit Urban and Regional Research.

Her research focuses on practices of sustainable urban and regional development as well as policy transfer and governance processes. She works on topics such as European territorial cohesion and cross-border cooperation, but also on regional climate change adaptation, risk governance, housing policy, urban upgrading processes and local climate resilience. Her regional focus is on Southern and Central Europe as well as Southeast Asia.

Business Card | List of publications

  •  VO Theory of Urban and Regional Development
  • VO Methodology and Process Design
  • SE Bachelor Thesis (SRF)
  • SE European Spatial Policies and Instruments (EULiST)
  • SE Sustainable urban development - Theoretical Approaches
  • VU Sustainable urban development - Empirical Approaches

Recent publications:

  • Demeterova, Barbara; Reimuth, Andrea; Lauer, Hannes; Islam, Sonia; Magnaye, Dina; Wijitbusaba et al. (2026): Climate change adaptation in informal settlements - Urban policy responses from Metro Manila, Bangkok, and Hanoi. In International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development. DOI: 10.1080/19463138.2026.2666433.
  • Franziska Sielker; Barbara Demeterova; Alexandra Pintilie; Miodrag Kablinovic; Mátyás Jaschitz; Kitti Dubniczki et al. (2026): ESPON CROSSGOV [Governance mechanisms for cross-border functional areas] - Newry-Dundalk (UK/IE). DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.20493.29926
  • Suitner, Johannes; Gramiller, Katharina; Bärnthaler, Alina; Demeterova, Barbara (2025): Transformative governance cultures? Explaining variation in regional climate change responses with culture. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17063908.
  • Medeiros, Eduardo; Potluka, Oto; Demeterova, Barbara; Musiałkowska, Ida (2024): EU Cohesion Policy towards territorial cohesion? In Regional Studies 58 (8), pp. 1513–1517. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2349736.
  • Demeterova, Barbara (2024): Assessing regional capabilities-oriented approaches for European just and sustainable transitions. In Regional Studies 58 (8), pp. 1530–1542. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2242894.
  • Demeterova, Barbara (2023): Urban and Regional Planning for Territorial Cohesion. In Eduardo Medeiros (Ed.): Public Policies for Territorial Cohesion. Cham: Springer International Publishing (The Urban Book Series), pp. 129–143. DOI:10.1007/978-3-031-26228-9_7
  • Demeterova, Barbara; Fischer, Tatjana; Schmude, Jürgen (2020a): The Right to Not Catch Up—Transitioning European Territorial Cohesion towards Spatial Justice for Sustainability. In Sustainability 12 (11), p. 4797. DOI: 10.3390/su12114797.
  • Demeterova, Barbara; Goodwin-Hawkins, Bryonny; Fischer, Tatjana (2020b): Conceptualisations of Territorial Cohesion in Central European border regions. In European Planning Studies 28 (12), pp. 2287–2306. DOI:10.1080/09654313.2020.1716692.

Complete list of publications