Urban Planning and Physical Determinism: Open Lecture with Dominic Stead
How does the built environment shape the way we live and move? This lecture critically examines the complex relationship between urban form and human behaviour, challenging simplified planning assumptions and offering new directions for research and policy. Mandatory registration.
Time: Wed 2026-03-18 14.00 - 16.00
Location: Gradängsalen, KTH
Language: English
Participating: Dominic Stead
Urban planning concepts over the years have been premised on the idea that the built environment shapes individual and collective decisions and behaviour. Examples include the Garden City, Transit Oriented Development and the 15-minute city, However, there are complex relationships between the built environment and individual and collective decisions and behaviour. Too often in planning research and practice, the complexity of these relationships is often overlooked or oversimplified. The lecture unpacks the nature of the relationships between the built environment and behaviour and offers some recommendations for research and policymaking.
About Dominic Stead
Dominic Stead is Professor of Land Use and Transport Planning, leader of the Spatial Planning and Transportation (SPT) research group and Director of the MSc programme in Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering. Dominic Stead's research and teaching activities focus on issues of urban and regional governance and sustainability.