Gian-Claudia Sciara Receives Swiss National Science Foundation Grant Award

Gian-Claudia Sciara, associate professor of community and regional planning (CRP) at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, has been selected for a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Scientific Exchange award to collaborate at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).  

Dr. Sciara’s work examines how federal, state and local governments plan and set policy for transportation and land development in metropolitan regions. Through this SNSF-funded scientific exchange, Spatial Planning for Sustainable Development in Multi-level Governance Contexts, Dr. Sciara will investigate how the individual governance frameworks for spatial planning of Switzerland and the U.S. impact respective land development outcomes.

The collaborative study will analyze cases of local planning and development across two Swiss cantonal regions and two California metro regions, emphasizing geographic areas that possess exceptional natural landscapes and face notable development pressure and environmental threats, and illuminating institutional influences in urban planning.   

The research will focus on three central questions: What is the institutional framework in each case for allocating spatial planning and implementation authority across government levels; what land use decisions result in the two contexts; and how do the different frameworks impact how municipal planners and officials make land use decisions?  

Dr. Sciara will work alongside Dr. Anna Hersperger, head of Land Use Systems Group, and member of WSL Directorate. Dr. Sciara and Dr. Hersperger have previously collaborated to examine multi-level spatial planning in the Austin, Texas, region.  

About the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) 

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), established in 1952 by Swiss government mandate, operates as an independent private foundation that makes competitive awards to support research of the highest scientific caliber across academic disciplines and to enhance global interconnectedness.