Research
Research
From deindustrialization to adaptive transformation methods.
My research began with industrialization, deindustrialization and urban transformation. It has since developed toward a broader concern with post-industrial sites, post-sectoral change and the conditions under which planning systems can make responsible decisions when assumptions are temporary and uncertain.
This research trajectory connects spatial transformation, structural change and epistemic orientation.
Doctoral Research and Deindustrialization
My doctoral research examined processes of industrial and urban transformation. This work provides the background for my current focus on post-industrial sites and brownfields.
Deindustrialization is not treated only as the decline of industrial employment. It is understood as a structural process that leaves material, spatial, institutional and cognitive residues. These residues continue to shape cities and regions long after the original industrial function has weakened or disappeared.
Post-Industrial Sites
Post-industrial sites are one of the most visible spatial consequences of structural change.
They are not simply empty land. They are places where past functions, current burdens and possible futures overlap. Their transformation requires decisions under incomplete knowledge, conflicting interests and uncertain adequacy.
This makes them important test cases for adaptive transformation methods.
Post-Sectoral Change
The post-sectoral condition describes a situation in which classical sectoral categories no longer provide sufficient orientation for understanding economic, spatial and institutional transformation.
Industry, services, logistics, digital systems, infrastructure, AI and knowledge production become increasingly intertwined. This changes how cities and regions function, and it changes how transformation should be assessed.
The post-sectoral perspective deepens the analysis of post-industrial transformation without replacing it as the public entry point.
Adaptive Transformation Systems
Adaptive Transformation Systems are being developed as a broader methodological framework for decision-making under structural uncertainty.
They address situations in which existing structures have lost adequacy, but no stable future configuration is yet available. In such cases, the task is not to predict the future perfectly. The task is to preserve decision quality, trace assumptions and maintain agency under changing conditions.
Orientation Theory
Orientation Theory provides the conceptual basis for this work.
It distinguishes orientation from meaning, coherence and explanation. This distinction is relevant not only for AI and epistemology, but also for planning, because spatial decisions often require action before certainty exists.
Selected Research Themes
- deindustrialization
- post-industrial urban transformation
- brownfields and transformation readiness
- post-mining sites
- post-sectoral change
- adaptive transformation methods
- decision-making under uncertainty
- temporary adequacy
- Orientation Theory
- Post-Relativism
- AI as a meaning system
- auditability and decision traceability
Publications and Working Papers
Selected publications and working papers will be listed here.
- Orientation Theory
- Post-Relativism
- Post-Sectoral Theory
- Adaptive Brownfield Systems
- Deindustrialization
- Urban Transformation