Research interests include: Land use and environmental planning, conflict resolution and STS

 

Mattijs van Maasakkers is an associate professor in the City and Regional Planning Section at the Knowlton School. Van Maasakkers’ research and teaching focus on the role of science in environmental decision-making, specifically in the context of complex public disputes. He has conducted research on environmental institutions and conflicts in the United States, the European Union, the Middle East and South Africa. His recent book, titled The Creation of Markets for Ecosystem Services in the United States: The Challenge of Trading Places, provides an in-depth analysis of the development of these new institutions in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay watershed. Van Maasakkers currently conducts research on the role of measurement systems in decision-making on land use in shrinking cities.

 

Before moving to Columbus, Van Maasakkers was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2013, he received his doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also received a Master in City Planning degree in 2009. Originally from the Netherlands, Van Maasakkers graduated with a master’s degree in political science from the University of Amsterdam in 2006.