Sebastian joined MSSI in November 2017, working alongside the ‘City of Melbourne Chair of Resilient Cities’. By generating knowledge and expertise through collaborative research and engagement, Sebastian contributes to the development of urban and regional innovations, resilience and sustainability research, and policy making. Coming from an interdisciplinary background, Sebastian’s work is focused on questions at the interface of economic and urban geography, innovation and transition studies.
He is particularly interested in place-based innovation, resilient urban and regional development, governance, and interactive knowledge generation between actors from public, private and academic sectors. He received his PhD in Human Geography at the University of Cologne, Germany, with research on urban sustainability transitions in the building and construction sector. Sebastian’s work has been published in renowned international journals, such as Applied Geography, Regional Studies, Journal of Cleaner Production or Professional Geographer.
His current projects ‘Urban Resilience In Action’ and ‘Gippsland Smart Specialization Strategy’ are both focused on applicable solutions, cross-sectoral cooperation and place-based innovation. Sebastian's core research questions are: How are resilience and sustainability strategies translated into practice? What drives processes of change and innovation in urban and regional contexts? What are barriers and challenges? To what extent does political decision-making play a role?
Find out more about Sebastian Fastenrath's experience
Sebastian Fastenrath's highlights
FEATURED Journal article
Governing urban greening at a metropolitan scale: an analysis of the Living Melbourne strategy
Read moreSebastian Fastenrath's selected work
Scholarly Works
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Honours, Awards and Fellowships
PhD Fellowship Grant 2017
Research support grant
Credentials
Positions
Research Fellow In Resilient Cities
Architecture, Building And Planning
Education
Doctorate of Natural Sciences
University of Cologne
Diplom in Geography
University of Cologne