91̽»¨

About Christina Vildinge

My research interest concerns interorganizational collaboration on complex issues, with a particular focus on urban development and how cities can organize transformative processes for sustainable transitions. Theoretically, my work is situated at the intersection of design, urban studies, and organization theory, with a special interest in design-based collaboration and the role of aesthetic practices in public spaces, mediating interactions between diverse actors and goals, and in how materials are translated, interpreted, and formalized in organizational processes.

A specific focus of my research is light design issue in public spaces and as an organizational challenge in urban development. Light is an expression of urbanity and gives form to the city after dark. As material artifact, light plays a key role in a wide range of urban development concerns such as social inclusion, democracy, climate impact, energy efficiency, and biodiversity. It is a boundary spanning and relational material that requires collaboration across both physical and organizational boundaries — in the space in between where urban development actually takes place.

In my research projects, we study how collaboration between actors — such as municipal administrations, businesses, civil society, residents, and artists — can be organized in, for example, urban regenerative art and design interventions. We also examine how light as gestalt material is translated into municipal governance, planning, and practice. The aim is to understand how light is used as a tool to create various values, such as safety, aesthetic qualities and biodiversity. Through practice-based action research, we explore the organizational life of light — how it is defined, moved, negotiated, and made concrete.

I am an Assistant Researcher and Doctoral Candidate in Design at HDK-Valand, with long experience in exploratory design work in public space — both as a researcher and as a senior design consultant in architectural practices. I hold a dual educational background in Design from HDK-Valand and in Management from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University 91̽»¨. I have taught for several years in HDK’s master’s programme Business & Design as well as in the bachelor's programme in Design. In parallel with my academic research, I currently work as Development Manager for Research & Innovation at the Urban Environment Administration, City 91̽»¨, where I also represent the administration in the innovation platform for the City's urban development departments and within the collaboration agreement with Chalmers ACE.