Johannes Suitner

Head of Urban Transformation Research Team at SRF

Urban Transformations | Politics of Planning | Social Innovation | Vienna’s Planning History

Johannes Suitner is an urban and regional researcher with expertise in the governance of sustainability transitions and transformative planning. In his research, the trained spatial planner (TU Wien) analyzes how profound processes of change (such as climate change and energy transition) are negotiated and governed in urban and regional development policy and planning. His most recent work deas with the relevance of non-technological innovations in technical fields such as energy and mobility, the influence of individual actors and agency on local transformation processes, and the impact and political implications of experimental approaches for sustainble transformations. In addition, he is interested in the mutual relation of urban planning and urban development, which he has explored intensively in his research on Vienna's planning history.

Guest Professor at the Int. Chair of Humanities & Social Sciences at Université Rennes 2, France (2023)
Guest Professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Research, University of Graz (2017-2018)
Lecturer at University of Economics, Vienna (from 2016)
Rudolf-Wurzer-Prize for Spatial Planning 2014

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Various teaching formats in the bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in Spatial Planning at TU Wien, especially on:

  • Urban development policy & strategic planning
  • Urban transformation processes
  •  Research Design & Philosophy of Science
  • Academic Publishing & Scientific Writing

Coordinator of the elective module "Global development of cities and metropolitan regions" (together with A. Hamedinger)

Substitute member of the Study Commission for Spatial Planning (2016-2019)

Current courses, opens an external URL in a new window

Selected publications:

  • Suitner, J., Haider, W., & Philipp, S. (2022): Social innovation for regional energy transition? An agency perspective on transformative change in non-core regions. In: Regional Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2022.2053096
  • Suitner, J. (2021): Towards Transformative Change. Die Schlüsselelemente experimenteller Ansätze in der städtischen Klimawandelanpassung erforschen. In: Der Öffentliche Sektor, 47(2), 53-64. 10.34749/oes.2021.4608
  • Suitner, J. (2021). Vienna’s Planning History. Periodizing stable phases of regulating urban development, 1820-2020. Planning Perspectives, 36(5), 881-902. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2020.1862700
  • Suitner, J., & Ecker, M. (2020). “Making energy transition work”. Bricolage in Austrian regions’ path-creation. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 36(3), 209-220. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210422420300939?via%3Dihub
  • Suitner, J. (2015). Imagineering Cultural Vienna. On the Semiotic Regulation of Vienna's Culture-led Urban Transformation. Bielefeld: transcript.


Recent publications, opens an external URL in a new window | Complete list of publications, opens an external URL in a new window


Selected projects:

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Univ.Ass. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.
Johannes Suitner

E-Mail: johannes.suitner[at]tuwien.ac.at
Telefon: +43 1 58801 280226