Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at HVL (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences) and Collaborating Member at CITTA (University of Porto). She holds a PhD from Wageningen University. Her dissertation is entitled 'Planning with Roots and Wings. Critical and constructive reflections on social learning in planning', (2021). Kim is passionate about social and environmental justice and sustainability, and seeks to address the related challenges through critical and constructive research, interdisciplinary and multi-cultural perspectives, creativity, and public engagement. She has published widely on the subjects of participatory governance, streets as public spaces of mobility, social learning in co-creative planning, critical innovation studies, degrowth and post-growth. She is looking to engage more with Arts and Humanities. She runs the MobileWorlds project and the Planetary Planning Podcast.
EDUCATION
Research Master Urban Studies 2013-2015
University of Amsterdam. Master-level study of urban issues, with a focus on transportation and land use planning, governance and sociology, culminating in the thesis on the acceptability of cycling in Mexico City and London.
Courses in Spanish Philology and Latin American Studies 2012-2013
Lateinamerika-Institut (LAI) Berlin and the Freie Universität Berlin.
Bachelor Human Geography and Planning 2009-2012
University of Amsterdam. Study of spatial and geographical influences on humans and vice-versa, and urban and regional planning. Focus on urban issues. Minor in International Development Studies. Electives on urban sociology and literature. Bachelor Thesis research self-organized in Brazil in cooperation with the EU-financed project Chance2Sustain.
Schools in Guatemala, Brazil and Germany 1996-2009
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Multidisciplinary, Geography, Planning and Development, Cultural Studies, Transportation
24
Scopus Publications
853
Scholar Citations
15
Scholar h-index
16
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Questioning streets. On plural origins, plural uses, and plural futures Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2025 • Streets have not always been essential for human movement across space. • Explorations of academic and non-academic literature, music, and interviews with three experts provide insights into the origins, uses and potential futures of streets. • A map of plural street themes must include, at least seven, around Access, Trade, Efficiency, Public Space, Inclusion, Worship, and Imaginaries. • A plural view of streets opens opportunities for shaping spaces with opportunities for deep re-thinking and shaping human futures. Streets occupy a vast amount of the space most people inhabit daily, and yet they often go unnoticed as an explicit object. This article goes into some depth on what streets have been, are, and could be, based on a historical and literature review, three expert interviews, as well as a search through songs and the music scene, and literary quotes. It also includes a linguistic reflection on the term. Based on these various sources, the article then offers a set of seven themes around which streets can be understood, including one about “the as-yet unimagined” and a set of questions that can help guide investigations based on each of these themes. The article thus broadens the view of the multiple roles that streets could have in the future, in terms of mobility and transportation, but also far beyond these aspects. Finally, it makes a larger conceptual provocation: how might plurality be embraced without sacrificing clarity, thus empowering the varied realities of people, and their requirements and wishes, to materialize in their daily lives − without losing touch with questions of sustainability and justice?
Interweaving environment, heritage, and society through Cultures of Water. An introduction Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld, Ana Clara Roberti, Bruno Lopes, Gisele C. Conceição Cultural Studies, 2025 Cultures of Water provide a particularly useful lens through which to perceiveenvironment, heritage and society in conjunction within the scope of culturalstudies, with special consideration for an essential and powerful actor: water.This special issue provides examples of a myriad of perspectives,manifestations and consequences of what Cultures and Water have been, are,and can be. This introduction delivers an overview of the special issue, whilealso proposing ways that Cultures of Water can more broadly be seen as aconnector and a useful concept for further studies.
Exploring the Potentials of Rural Tactical Action for Co-Creating Heritage: The Case of the “Minante” Project Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld, Rui Monteiro, Ana Clara Roberti, Gisele C. Conceição Heritage and Society, 2025 Tactical action has been spreading around the world as a way for citizens to make significant changes in their environment without much need for materials or external support. Whether it is considered relatively radical, or relatively mainstream, or even politically co-opted, this process seems to motivate people to actively shape their daily environments, including when they are seeking ways to revive local heritage. Through the action and research project “Minante,” with the explicit aim to connect values of sustainability, participation, and aesthetics in line with the EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative, a form of tactical action has been supported in a rural area of northern Portugal. This has raised questions about the potential specificities of the rural context (while tactical action has been studied mostly in urban areas), and about the related questions of heritage and ownership in such locations. This article discusses these themes with recourse to theory and to the empirical findings of the Minante project. Ultimately, the article proposes a move toward tactical collaboration that does not focus much on the urban versus rural dimension but rather on how collaboration occurs, and what kinds of (material and immaterial) ownership play a role here, co-determining the impact in terms of natural and cultural heritage.
Shrinking Cities for Economic Growth? Insights From the Housing Sector António Ferreira, Kim C. Von Schönfeld, Fanny Augis, Paulo Conceição Urban Planning, 2024 This research focuses on examining how the pursuit of economic growth can contribute to urban shrinkage. In contrast to the prevalent definition of urban shrinkage that links population loss to insufficient levels of economic growth, this study examines the case of Coimbra, Portugal, where something different is happening. We hypothesise that Coimbra experiences population loss due to urban policies that promote economic growth through housing speculation. We conclude that the hypothesis is valid using semi-structured interviews and document analysis as data collection methods. The identified phenomenon disproportionately affects younger and vulnerable residents, forcing them to relocate due to unaffordable housing options. However, it benefits the local authority and national government, which collaborate with global economic powers that invest in real estate to accumulate capital. The conformist and legalistic-bureaucratic nature of the Portuguese planning system, evident in Coimbra’s local authority, exacerbates the problem. We emphasise the potentially transformative impact of economic degrowth thinking on housing policy. The implications of this research question the validity of mainstream economic theory as commonly applied to urban planning.
On the 'impertinence of impermanence' and three other critiques: Reflections on the relationship between experimentation and lasting – or significant? – change Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld Journal of Urban Mobility, 2024 Experimentation, and street experiments in particular, have led to considerable academic and policy advances in sustainable and inclusive (mobility) planning over the past years. With increased popularity and confidence, the street experiments field has recently begun to turn to in-depth discussions on design and upscaling, more than questions of its own legitimacy or relevance. This commentary nevertheless explores four recurring critiques of (street) experimentation and proposes how looking more deeply at them might empower, rather than weaken, such initiatives. Engaging with these critiques is therefore not meant as a renewed criticism, per se, of (street) experiments. Rather, it recognizes that getting into the technicalities and specific designs and elements that might improve street experiments and their capacity to impact change advances knowledge in the field, but argues that advocates must not forget some key baseline critiques they might face - and be ready to either defend or amend their choices accordingly. This commentary is a call to be more creative and less conforming, and to come back again to the deeper motivations for what (street) experiments are meant to do; or develop a better understanding of those motivations. This commentary also leaves open questions that will require further research. Disconfirming some of the hypotheses emerging here would be no less interesting than confirming them. I hope the readers will thus see this commentary as an invitation for debating and exploring these critiques and reflections further.
Beyond Car‐Centred Adultism? Exploring Parental Influences on Children’s Mobility Catarina Cadima, Kim Von Schönfeld, António Ferreira Urban Planning, 2024 Motorised traffic and car-centric environments restrict children’s commuting patterns and outdoor activities. This has adverse health consequences as it induces physical inactivity and reduces children’s well-being. Understanding parents’ daily routines and reasons to facilitate or restrict their children’s active and independent mobility is essential to improving children’s well-being and encouraging environmentally sustainable mobilities. This article explores parental decision-making processes regarding how children should travel to and from school and how these constitute barriers or enablers for children’s independent and active mobility in a Portuguese context. We used a mixed-methods sequential approach: We first collected data through an online survey and then via focus groups with parents and interviews with school directors. Overall, parental concerns about traffic stem from an automobility-centred culture that has converted urban streets into an optimised system of mobility flows focused on (single and employed) adults. This culture responds to the anxieties it creates by perpetuating a cycle that exacerbates existing concerns and reinforces the need to rely even more heavily on mobility technologies, especially the private car. This adult-centred mobility culture jeopardises children’s ability to navigate the city independently while offering children a highly problematic and self-reproducing social construction. In this construction, the risks and drawbacks of physically confined virtual environments and experiences are considered acceptable, while engaging with the physicality and sociality of the urban environment is considered unacceptably dangerous and promiscuous.
Who for rather than who with - how intended audiences help determine framing dynamics in contested planning Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld Planning Practice and Research, 2023 This article considers the contested case of the Minhocão, São Paulo, to be either removed or turned into a park. The case provides insights for framing and planning literature. It is analysed through interviews, and media and document analysis. The results show that the involved actors adopt different framing strategies: adaptive, coherent, or deliberative. Each strategy has particular intended and actual audiences that help explain the dynamics of participatory contestation. Each strategy reveals choices in dealing with adversaries, who are present, and with intended audiences, who are largely absent. And each strategy has specific repercussions for learning and planning outcomes.
Mobility values in a finite world: pathways beyond austerianism? Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld, António Ferreira Applied Mobilities, 2023 When considering the environmental and economic crisis humanity is likely to experience in the near future, it becomes inescapable to ponder the values guiding decision-making and policy-making processes concerned with mobility and transport futures. Existing suggestions tend to centre around what this article denominates mobility austerianism. This is a frugal transport-related societal configuration in which mobility is heavily restricted based on a strict perception of environmental sustainability in terms of radical protection of the environment at the cost of human comfort. Trip purposes, in this context, should be as limited as possible to the satisfaction of primary needs, emphasizing sufficiency values. This research explores the desirability of mobility austerianism by engaging transport and mobility experts in mixed methods. The results provide a picture of the mobility values the experts endorse. They welcome a certain level of mobility austerianism regarding transport means. However, they remain sceptical about embracing mobility austerianism regarding trip purposes. The ramifications of these conclusions for transport policy are critically discussed, and the outlines of possible future pathways – some more and some less focused on mobility austerianism – are explored.
(Re-)valuing and co-creating cultures of water: a transdisciplinary methodology for weaving a live tapestry of Blue Heritage Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld, Ana Clara Nunes Roberti, Bruno Lopes, Gisele Cristina da Conceição International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2023 This article develops a transdisciplinary methodology for valuing and co-creating ‘tapestries’ of Blue Heritage. Given impending threats to the environmental sustainability and maintenance of Cultural Heritage surrounding oceans and freshwaters, it is increasingly urgent to develop a methodology that addresses the significance of the past and its rapport with the continuous future creation and valuing of what we here develop as ‘Cultures of Water’. This idea encompasses water-related practices that occur in various ways across diverse groups and arenas. Therefore, the proposed methodology is informed by several disciplines, notably History, Ethnography, Cultural Heritage, Arts, Design, Planning, and Geography. It emphasises the creation of a continuously evolving and changing tapestry of knowledge, jointly threaded by local populations, governmental and non-governmental institutions at various levels, industries, businesses, and academia. The tapestry is woven by connecting diverse disciplinary methodologies along specific threads, three on content and six on methods and related key questions. This article presents the methodology and reflects on its practicability and potential based on autoethnographic reflections, literature reviews, and first findings from implementing parts of the methodology in northern Portugal.
Living without commuting: experiences of a less mobile life under COVID-19 Anna Nikolaeva, Ying-Tzu Lin, Samuel Nello-Deakin, Ori Rubin, Kim Carlotta von Schönfeld Mobilities, 2023 Understanding experiences of a less mobile life under COVID-19 offers insights into the taken-for-granted meanings of mobility in daily life, and into new opportunities for low-carbon mobility transitions associated with working from home. Drawing on 50 written interviews, this article explores meanings attributed to living without commuting during lockdown, examining what people missed and what they appreciated. The results indicate that the majority of respondents miss multiple aspects of daily mobility but have also discovered new experiences and routines that hold their daily life together and make it pleasant. Our findings thereby emphasize an often-neglected aspect in transport research: the complexity and ambivalence of people’s relationship with daily mobility. Here, commuting is seen simultaneously as a tiresome burden, but also as a key source of interaction with the wider world which is important in sustaining people’s sense of daily balance. Furthermore, ‘compensatory mobilities’ emerge as a widespread practice which helps people retain aspects they miss about commuting while working from home. This practice, we suggest, underscores the intrinsic enjoyment associated with being on the move, and is important for unraveling the potential impacts of working from home on people’s mobility carbon footprint.
Questioning Mental Comfort in Planning: exploring the pendulum between creativity and safety KC von Schönfeld, S Eräranta, W Tan, A Ferreira, J Sturzaker, S Wiberg Conversations in Spatial Planning: Exploring Change in Planning Practice and … , 2026 2026
Combining “Science” and “Art” in Planning: aiming for convergence or collaboration? KC von Schönfeld, S Eräranta, S Wiberg, S Greaves, R Mäntysalo Conversations in Spatial Planning: Exploring Change in Planning Practice and … , 2026 2026
Social Learning as Treadmill, Harness and Springboard: a multi-perspective examination of the ambiguous potentials of social learning in planning practice S Eräranta, KC von Schönfeld, P Healey, R Mäntysalo, W Tan, A Ferreira, ... Conversations in Spatial Planning: Exploring Change in Planning Practice and … , 2026 2026
The Role of Academia in Initiating or Enabling Change: researcher activism in the context of planning KC von Schönfeld, S Eräranta, E Verlinghieri, M Mladenović, A Ferreira, ... Conversations in Spatial Planning: Exploring Change in Planning Practice and … , 2026 2026
Conversations in Spatial Planning: Exploring Change in Planning Practice and Academia with Voices Across Generations and Expertise KC von Schönfeld, S Eräranta Routledge , 2026 2026
Exploring the Potentials of Rural Tactical Action for Co-Creating Heritage: The Case of the “Minante” Project KC von Schönfeld, R Monteiro, AC Roberti, GC Conceição Heritage & Society, 1-33 , 2025 2025
Interweaving environment, heritage, and society through Cultures of Water . An introduction KC von Schönfeld, AC Roberti, B Lopes, GC Conceição Cultural Studies 39 (5), 657-668 , 2025 2025 Citations: 3
From Riverbank to Ocean: Involving Young Generations With Their Territory Through Artistic Practices AC Roberti, K von Schönfeld, R Monteiro Ocean and Society 2 , 2025 2025
Questioning streets. On plural origins, plural uses, and plural futures KC von Schönfeld Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 31 , 2025 2025
Beyond Car-Centred Adultism? Exploring Parental Influences on Children’s Mobility C Cadima, K von Schönfeld, A Ferreira Urban Planning 9 , 2024 2024 Citations: 6
Stepping out of the box of ‘sustainable mobility’into an interconnected, otherwise mobile world. Seeking a new methodology for the future of mobility planning KC von Schönfeld AESOP Annual Congress proceedings 36 , 2024 2024
On the'impertinence of impermanence'and three other critiques: Reflections on the relationship between experimentation and lasting–or significant?–change KC von Schönfeld Journal of Urban Mobility 5, 100070 , 2024 2024 Citations: 21
Shrinking cities for economic growth? Insights from the housing sector A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld, F Augis, P Conceição Urban Planning 9 , 2024 2024 Citations: 12
Who for rather than who with - how intended audiences help determine framing dynamics in contested planning KC von Schönfeld Planning Practice & Research 38 (4), 541-563 , 2023 2023 Citations: 1
Mobility values in a finite world: pathways beyond austerianism? KC von Schönfeld, A Ferreira Applied Mobilities 8 (3), 218-244 , 2023 2023 Citations: 16
Living without commuting: experiences of a less mobile life under COVID-19 A Nikolaeva, YT Lin, S Nello-Deakin, O Rubin, KC von Schönfeld Mobilities 18 (1), 1-20 , 2023 2023 Citations: 53
ENTRE A ESPADA E A PAREDE? O dilema da mobilidade no contexto da meritocracia universitária A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld, MME Vieira, LE Pappámikail Desafios para o Ensino Superior 3, 103-119 , 2023 2023
(Re-)valuing and co-creating cultures of water: a transdisciplinary methodology for weaving a live tapestry of Blue Heritage KC von Schönfeld, AC Nunes Roberti, B Lopes, GC da Conceição International Journal of Heritage Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258 … , 2023 2023 Citations: 7
Post-Growth Planning: Cities Beyond the Market Economy F Savini, A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld Routledge , 2022 2022 Citations: 107
Uncoupling planning and economic growth: towards post-growth urban principles: An introduction F Savini, A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld Post-Growth Planning, 3-18 , 2022 2022 Citations: 25
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Urban streets: Epitomes of planning challenges and opportunities at the interface of public space and mobility KC von Schönfeld, L Bertolini Cities 68, 48-55 , 2017 2017 Citations: 216
Post-Growth Planning: Cities Beyond the Market Economy F Savini, A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld Routledge , 2022 2022 Citations: 107
Unpacking social learning in planning: who learns what from whom? KC von Schönfeld, W Tan, C Wiekens, L Janssen-Jansen Urban research & practice, 1-23 , 2019 2019 Citations: 66
Urban Planning and European Innovation Policy: Achieving Sustainability, Social Inclusion, and Economic Growth? KC von Schönfeld, A Ferreira Sustainability 13 (3), 1137 , 2021 2021 Citations: 64
Living without commuting: experiences of a less mobile life under COVID-19 A Nikolaeva, YT Lin, S Nello-Deakin, O Rubin, KC von Schönfeld Mobilities 18 (1), 1-20 , 2023 2023 Citations: 53
Decentralization, participation and deliberation in water governance: a case study of the implications for Guarulhos, Brazil F van den Brandeler, M Hordijk, K von Schönfeld, J Sydenstricker-Neto Environment and Urbanization 26 (2), 489-504 , 2014 2014 Citations: 40
Social learning as an analytical lens for co-creative planning KC von Schönfeld, W Tan, C Wiekens, W Salet, L Janssen-Jansen European planning studies 27 (7), 1291-1313 , 2019 2019 Citations: 36
Maladaptive Planning and the Pro-Innovation Bias: Considering the Case of Automated Vehicles A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld, W Tan, E Papa Urban Science 4 (3), 41 , 2020 2020 Citations: 30
Interlacing planning and degrowth scholarship: A manifesto for an interdisciplinary alliance A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld disP-The Planning Review 56 (1), 53-64 , 2020 2020 Citations: 27
Uncoupling planning and economic growth: towards post-growth urban principles: An introduction F Savini, A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld Post-Growth Planning, 3-18 , 2022 2022 Citations: 25
Urban streets between public space and mobility KC von Schönfeld, L Bertolini Transportation research procedia 19, 300-302 , 2016 2016 Citations: 25
On the'impertinence of impermanence'and three other critiques: Reflections on the relationship between experimentation and lasting–or significant?–change KC von Schönfeld Journal of Urban Mobility 5, 100070 , 2024 2024 Citations: 21
Planning cities beyond digital colonization? Insights from the periphery A Ferreira, FP Oliveira, KC von Schönfeld Land Use Policy 114, 105988 , 2022 2022 Citations: 19
Endurance and implementation in small-scale bottom-up initiatives: How social learning contributes to turning points and critical junctures KC von Schönfeld, W Tan Cities 117, 103280 , 2021 2021 Citations: 19
Mobility values in a finite world: pathways beyond austerianism? KC von Schönfeld, A Ferreira Applied Mobilities 8 (3), 218-244 , 2023 2023 Citations: 16
Shrinking cities for economic growth? Insights from the housing sector A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld, F Augis, P Conceição Urban Planning 9 , 2024 2024 Citations: 12
Beyond the rule of growth in the transport sector: Towards “clumsy mobility solutions”? A Ferreira, KC von Schönfeld Post-Growth Planning, 80-93 , 2022 2022 Citations: 9
Every-day mobility anecdotes: Addressing the blind spot of goal-and expert-oriented mobility research KC von Schönfeld, W Tan, C Curtis, JF Visser Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 7, 100169 , 2020 2020 Citations: 9
What does it mean to be less mobile? Insights from COVID-19 lockdown A Nikolaeva, YT Lin, S Nello-Deakin, O Rubin, KC von Schönfeld Centre for Urban Studies, University of Amsterdam , 2021 2021 Citations: 8
Unpacking social learning in planning: Who learns what from whom? Urban Research & Practice, 13 (4), 411-433 KC von Schönfeld, W Tan, C Wiekens, L Janssen-Jansen 2020 Citations: 8