Amin Rastandeh

I work for the Division of Strategic Sustainability Studies in the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science & Engineering at KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, where I collaborate with other researchers in the project Mistra Sport & Outdoors (MSO) – Theme 3: Sustainable Use of Land and Water. In the MSO project, I develop a new form of Public Participatory GIS to understand how, where, when, and why people use peri-urban landscapes for nature-based recreational activities. I also model how seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation affect nature-based recreational activities in areas of ecological importance for biodiversity conservation. As part of my research, I am interested to learn about public attitudes toward land-sharing and land-sparing for biodiversity conservation in peri-urban landscapes, where recreation and conservation strategies often contradict.

I received my PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where I modeled and measured the potential role of landscape composition and configuration in safeguarding indigenous wildlife species against the impacts of climate change.

Before joining KTH, I worked as a researcher and educator in Iran, New Zealand, and the United States. In particular, I served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of South Dakota to map, model, and analyze the relationship of landscape social values to anthropogenic and biophysical factors across landscapes of the Upper Missouri River Basin.

In research, I integrate geo-spatial modeling and citizen science tools, methods, and approaches to better understand human-environmental interactions and pattern-process relationships in the face of the climate crisis.

My teaching is research-led. I have worked with a variety of students of different backgrounds and have used a wide spectrum of learning tools and methods, accordingly. I have experience in teaching in-person, online, and hybrid courses, including field-based and large-scale studio classes. I am available to supervise and provide mentorship to undergraduate and postgraduate students whose research interests are related to the following general topics:

1. Reconciliation Ecology (Conservation vs. Food Production, Recreation, Urbanization)

2. Landscape-level Analysis for Biodiversity Conservation (Urban and Regional)

3. Public Attitudes Toward Ecosystem Services (Landscape Social Values)

4. Citizen Science in Urban Ecology and Alternative Landscape Futures

Keywords: Reconciliation Ecology ● Landscape Architecture ● Human-Environmental Interactions ● Biodiversity ● Land-sharing ● Land-sparing ● Citizen Science ● Geographic Information Systems ● Climate Change

SDGs in Research: Climate Action; Sustainable Cities & Communities; Life on Land

SDGs in Teaching: Quality Education; Gender Equality