dr.ir. M (Marlies) Meijer

Marlies Meijer is Assistant Professor at the groupLandscape Architecture and Spatial Planning of Wageningen University, specialised in rural governance and planning. As a Spatial Planner I am interested in planning initiatives from below: how non-governmental actors plan for better living environments, and how their efforts relate to formalized and governmental planning practices. My empirical work mostly focusses on local and regional initiatives in rural and depopulating areas, across Europe (including Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden and Finland), and is studied from a qualitative, inter- and transdisciplinary research perspective. Currently my research focuses on 1) the success and failure of community initiatives, 2) community-government relations and 3) the challenges of todays rural, peripheral areas, including how this leads to governance innovations. In particular, for the Welcoming Spaces project I study how international migrants contribute to the revitalization of shrinking regions; and currently I am involved as international expert to reflect on Finish regional policies for Smart Shrinkage. 

Previously dr. Meijer was affiliated as assistantant professor at the department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University (2017-2022). In 2018 I obtained a PhD at Radboud University, Nijmegen - with my PhD thesis entitled: 'Community-led Government-fed and Informal. Exploring planning from below in depopulating regions across Europe'. In 2010 I graduated in Spatial Planning, at Wageningen University.