“It is about seeing the knowledge and competence at KTH that could be of use to the region”
Jonathan Metzger, professor in urban and regional studies, has been appointed as new partnership director for Region Stockholm. He is looking forward to taking over after his predecessor, Daniel Jonsson, and sees several areas where the partnership can make a difference. New to the role is that Jonathan Metzger will spend about one day a week on site at Region Stockholm.
The partnership agreement between KTH and Region Stockholm was signed already in 2015, and it is composed of two parts, where “traffic and region” has a partnership director from the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. Jonathan Metzger has represented KTH in the steering committee during seven years, and he is thus well acquainted with the collaboration.
What kind of collaboration are you taking over?
“My predecessor, Daniel Jonsson, has laid a very good foundation for the continued collaboration and we have an active steering committee. That is welcome considering the width in Region Stockholms area of responsibility and the many interfaces. It is about everything from people’s preferences and travel patterns to material in rails and design of vehicles. And also, such things as housing, business development, climate and environment.”
Which is your role and task as a partnership director?
“My role is to think strategically about the content of the matters at hand and to be a link to the faculty and research at KTH. It is about seeing the knowledge and competence that could be of use to the region and to make them aware of that competence. I am looking forward to further explore which environments at KTH would be relevant to involve and to think creatively together. I am convinced that there are environments at KTH that don’t think that their work is relevant to the region but that could really be of use.”
Is there anything concrete in the collaboration that you would like to highlight?
“A good foundation for the collaboration is a targeted annual call for researchers at KTH. This year’s application period for traffic and region is from 14 April to 10 June. All researchers at KTH that think the call could be for them are welcome to two inspiration and dialogue meetings on 21 and 22 April. I would very muck like to see researchers from other parts of KTH, for example at the School of Industrial Engineering and Management”
“In addition to more research in the fields of the region it would be very valuable if we could develop personnel mobility. It would be positive with more doctoral students employed by the region and also to have researchers from KTH spending time at the region to increase their knowledge and understand how their competence can be of use. In the research school Transplace, where I am director, doctoral students have been at the Transport Department as an appreciated part of the education.”
You will spend a day a week at the region, which are your thoughts about that?
“The exact arrangements are not decided yet but it is a large administration with many departments. We will coordinate how my presence will be of most use but I will probably spend quite some time at the and Regional Chief Executive’s Office and the Traffic Department in Lindhagen”
Which parts of the region’s activities are most interesting at the moment?
“I have been granted funding for an ongoing project about regional housing supply management, so of course I find that area very interesting. In Sweden the municipalities are responsible for making sure that there is housing but since there are several municipalities near each other and people move it it difficult to manage for the region. In the project we study how municipalities can collaborate to balance the supply of housing and how you make municipalities assume responsibility. This is being complicated by factors like high land prices and a large demand for single-family homes. If you want to construct many homes single-family ones aren’t very efficient but there are municipalities that don’t want to construct apartment buildings since residents often have lower income and the municipalities want to avoid social welfare costs.”
“Otherwise, the expansion of the metro is still relevant and it will continue to be for several years. It’s a massive investment that also has secondary effects. Among other things the region’s support for development of regional urban centres, like for example Barkarby-Jakobsberg, Kista-Sollentuna-Häggvik and Kungens kurva-Skärholmen.”
“There is an incredible complexity in decision making about transport planning and mobility with a multi-level governance on national, regional and municipal level, and disagreement about the path to a sustainable society. Here we at KTH have an important role to play. We can contribute with knowledge and competence and approach the hard questions that need to be solved.”
Text: Johan Corredoira Thorburn