Dr. Kristof Van Assche is Associate Professor in planning, governance & development at the Faculty of Extension.
Kristof is interested in evolution and innovation in governance, with focus areas in spatial planning and design, development and environmental policy. He worked in various countries, and often combines fieldwork with theoretical reflection: systems theories, interpretive policy analysis, institutional economics, post- structuralism. He held visiting positions at McGill University, Krakov Agricultural University, Wageningen University, Bonn University. Geographically, his work spans Europe, the America’s, Central Asia and the Caucasus. At the faculty of extension, he wants to contribute to and initiate research on rural development, innovation, natural resource governance, and ‘light’ varieties of planning and design, adapted to less planning- oriented institutional and cultural environments. Part of his teaching is in the faculty of Science: international planning & development, planning theory, rural development. Recurring keywords in these various activities are participation, innovation, coordination, interpretation and evolution. He published widely on these topics. For more info see kristofvanassche.wordpress.com
Radomski, P., Van Assche, K. (2014) Lakeside living. Sustainable planning and design in the footsteps of environmental writers (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press)
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Duineveld, M. (2013) Evolutionary governance theory: An Introduction. (Heidelberg: Springer)
Iordachi, C. Van Assche, K., Eds. (2013) Biopolitics and the Danube Delta, Lexington Books.
Salukvadze, J., Van Assche, K., Shavishvilli, N., Eds. (2011) Tbilisi in times of change. Socio- cultural and spatial dimensions of development, Tbilisi: Tbilisi State University Press. [In Georgian language]
Van Assche, K., Salukvadze, J., Shavishvilli, N., Eds. (2009) City planning and city culture in Tbilisi. Where Europe and Asia meet, Lewiston, New York: the Edwin Mellen Press.
Van Assche, K. (2004) Signs in time. An interpretive account of urban planning and design, the people and their histories, Wageningen University.
Selected articles
Jacobs, J., Van Assche, K. (2014) ‘Understanding Empirical Boundaries: A Systems-Theoretical Avenue in Border Studies’, in Geopolitics [forthcoming]
Djanibekov, U., Van Assche, K., Boezeman, D., Djanibekov, N. (2014) ‘Understanding contracts in evolving agro-economies: Fermers, dekhqans and networks in Khorezm, Uzbekistan’, Journal of Rural Studies, 32: 137-147. » abstract
Van Assche, K. (2013) ‘Ernest Oberholtzer and the art of boundary crossing. Writing, life and the narratives of conservation and planning’. Planning Perspectives. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Van Biesebroeck, J. , Holm, J. (2013) ‘Governing the ice. Ice fishing villages on Lake Mille Lacs and the creation of environmental governance institutions. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. [online first] » abstract
Beunen, R., Van Assche, K. (2013) ‘Contested delineations. Planning, law and the governance of protected areas’, Environment and Planning A, 45, 6: 1285- 1301 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Holm, J., Lo, M. (2013) ‘Social learning and innovation. Ice fishing communities on Lake Mille Lacs’. Land Use Policy, 34: 232-242 » abstract
Shtaltovna, A., Van Assche, K., Hornidge, A.K. (2012) ‘Where did this debt come from? Organizational change, role ambiguity and development in rural Khorezm, Uzbekistan. International Quarterly for Asian Studies/ Internationales Asienforum, 43, 3-4, pp. 179-197. » abstract
Duineveld, M., Van Assche, K., Beunen, R. (2013) ‘Making things irreversible. Object stabilization in urban planning and design’, Geoforum, 46: 16-24 »abstract
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Duineveld, M. (2013) ‘Formal/ informal dialectics and the self- transformation of spatial planning systems: an exploration’, Administration & Society [i-first] »abstract
Kooij, HJ, Van Assche, K, Lagendijk, A (2013) ‘Open concepts as crystallization points and enablers of discursive configurations: the case of the innovation campus in the Netherlands’, European Planning Studies [online first] » abstract
Eichholz, M., Van Assche, K., Oberkircher, L, Hornidge, AK (2013) ‘Trading capitals? Bourdieu, land and water in rural Uzbekistan’, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 56, 6: 868- 892 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R, Duineveld, M, de Jong, H (2013) ‘Co- evolutions of planning and design. Risks and benefits of design perspectives in planning systems’, Planning Theory, 12, 2: 177-19 » abstract
Beunen, R, Van Assche, K, Duineveld, M. (2013) ‘Performing failure in conservation policy .The implementation of European Union directives in the Netherlands’, Land Use Policy, 31: 280-288 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Costaglioli, F. (2012) ‘Silent places, silent plans: Silent signification and the study of place transformation’, Planning Theory, 11,2, 128-147 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Djanibekov, N. (2012) ‘Spatial planning as policy integration: The need for an evolutionary perspective. Lessons from Uzbekistan’, Land Use Policy, 29, 1, 179-186. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Bell, S., Teampau, P. (2012) ‘Traumatic natures in the swamp. Concepts of nature and participatory governance in the Danube delta’, Environmental Values, 21, 2, 163-183 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Duineveld, M., De Jong, H., van Zoest, A. (2012) ‘What place is this time? Semiotics and the analysis of historical reference in landscape architecture’, Journal of Urban Design, 17,2, 233 -254 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Duineveld, M. (2012) ‘Performing failure and success: Dutch planning experiences’, Public Administration, 90, 3, 567-581 »abstract
Van Assche, K., Lo, M. (2011) ‘Planning, preservation and place branding: a tale of sharing assets and narratives’, Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 7, 2, 117-126. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Salukvadze, J. (2012) ‘Tbilisi reinvented. Politics, planning and the development of a post- Soviet city’, Planning Perspectives,27, 1, 1-24 » abstract
Van Assche, K., Duineveld, M., Beunen, R., Teampau, P. (2011) ‘Delineating locals. Knowledge/ power and the evolving governance of the Danube delta’, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 13, 1, 1-21. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Jacobs, J., Teampau, P. (2011) ‘Crossing trails in the marshes. Flexibility and rigidity in the governance of the Danube delta’, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 54, 8, 997-1018 »abstract
Duineveld, M., Van Assche, K. (2011) ‘The power of tulips. Constructing nature and heritage in a contested landscape’, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 13,2, 79-98. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Verschraegen, G., Salukvadze, J. (2010) ‘Changing frames. Expert and citizen participation in Georgian planning’, Planning Practice and Research, 25, 3: 377- 395.
Van Assche, K, Devlieger, P, Teampau, P., Verschraegen, G. (2009) ‘Forgetting and remembering in the margins: Constructing past and future in the Romanian Danube Delta’, Memory Studies, 2, 2, 211-234. » abstract
Van Assche, K., Verschraegen, G. (2008) ‘The Limits of Planning: Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory and the analysis of planning and planning ambitions’, Planning Theory, 7, 3, 263- 283. » abstract , » full paper
Van Assche, K., ‘Planning as/ and/ in context: Towards a new analysis of context in interactive planning‘, Middle Eastern Technical University Journal FA, 24, 2, 105-117. » full paper
Teampau, P., Van Assche, K. (2007) ‘Sulina- The dying city in a vital region. Social memory and nostalgia for the European future’, Ethnologia Balkanica, 11, 1, 257-278. »abstract
For more publication info see kristofvanassche.wordpress.com
vanassch@ualberta.ca
(780) 492-2825
(587) 594 2730 (mobile)