Johan Woltjer (1968) is a Professor of Regional Planning and Development at the Department of Spatial Planning and Environment, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His work career has included positions at the University of Groningen, the University of Twente, and the University of Amsterdam. He has established research projects and delivered policy advice for several institutions including the EU, the OECD, and a large variety of Dutch government agencies. Commissioned work (reports, recommendations, and presentations) for these institutions has focused on issues of spatial planning, policy design and project evaluation.
Prof Woltjer concentrates his research work on institutional innovations for regional planning issues (specifically coastal and urban regions), and, among other things, the role of sustainable development and capacity-building in spatial planning. Most of this work has contributed an international and internationally comparative view to the field, particularly focusing on Europe and South-Eastern Asia (Indonesia and China). The impact of his work is visible through papers and articles on international urban regions, regional sustainable development, coastal management, policy evaluation, and capacity building, appearing in high-impact journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association, Land Use Policy, International Development Planning Review, International Planning Studies, Environment and Planning A & B, and Planning Practice and Research. Recent books were ‘Consensus Planning, the relevance of communicative planning theory in Dutch infrastructure development’, and as a co-editor, 'New principles in planning and evaluation' (Ashgate), and ‘Evaluation for Participation and Sustainability in Planning’ (Routledge).
In 2011, he was awarded the prominent SPIN prize from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences for his collaborative research on urban development and planning in Indonesia.
Throughout his career, Prof Woltjer has been committed to teaching and capacity building in his field. He is the author of the 'Facetten van de Planologie' (Kluwer), a leading text book for undergraduate students in the Netherlands. Prof Woltjer has also been instrumental to the development and expansion of international teaching programs, like the international Master program for Environmental and Infrastructure Planning in Groningen. He has established advanced collaboration with international partners like the Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia (Development Planning and Infrastructure Management) and the Universität Oldenburg, Germany (Water and Coastal Management), both for teaching and research. The European focus in his work is reflected not only through his written work and invited chapters and reports, but also in his leading role for various research networks, in particular the international Planning Evaluation group.
