Gala Nettelbladt is an interdisciplinary urban and planning scholar, postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute for European Urban Studies. She is also an associate member at the DFG-funded Research Training Group Urban Future-Making at HafenCity University Hamburg.
With a background in Social Sciences and Urban Planning, her research broadly centres on socio-political conflicts and negotiations in cities, critically examining the role of civil society, planning and state authorities in navigating today’s multiple crises, such as the rise of the far right and climate change. Her current postdoctoral project The Contentious Politics of Planning for Water Scarcity is tracing planning conflicts around water scarcity in Germany and the UK.
Gala received her PhD from the Department of Social Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin with a dissertation on the municipal governance of contemporary far-right contestations. She holds an MRes in Interdisciplinary Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Planning (UCL) and a BA in European Studies from King’s College London and Sciences Po Paris. Previously, she worked at the Centre for Regional Development, Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) and was a visiting scholar at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, as well as visiting professor of urban and regional sociology at HafenCity University Hamburg (W2-Vertretungsprofessur).
Gala is part of the editorial collective s u b \ u r b a n, zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung
Research interests:
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Spatial Governance
- Urban Political Ecology
- Infrastructural Transformations (Energy, Water)
- Planning, Urban Governance, and the Far Right
| Qualifications | |
|---|---|
| 01/2019 – 04/2023 | Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin PhD in Urban Sociology, summa cum laude |
| 09/2019 | RC21-IJURR Doctoral School in Comparative Urban Studies, Delhi |
| 09/2016 – 09/2017 | The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL) Master of Research im Fach Inter-disciplinary Urban Design, Distinction |
| 10/2011 – 07/2015 | Department of European and Int. Studies, King’s College London (KCL) Bachelor of Arts im Fach European Studies, First Class Honours |
| 09/2013 – 06/2014 | L'Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) Erasmus |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| 04 – 09/2025 | HafenCity University Hamburg Visiting Professor of Urban and Regional Sociology (W2-Vertretungsprofessur) |
| 01 – 03/2025 | Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge Visiting Scholar |
| 05/2024 – present | Bauhaus University Weimar, Institute for European Urban Studies Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer |
| 03/2022 – 03/2024 | Kompetenzzentrum für Regionalentwicklung, Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt-, und Raumforschung (BBSR) Research Officer |
| 03 – 09/2023 | Brandenburgische Technische Universität (BTU) Cottbus – Senftenberg Teaching Associate at the Department of Spatial Transformation and Social Research |
| 2021 – jetzt | sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung (Open-access journal, funded by the DFG) Member of the editorial collective |
| 01/2018 – 04/2022 | Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) Research Associate |
| 03/2016 – 09/2017 | Development Planning Unit, The Bartlett (UCL) Research Assistant |
| Awards & Scholarships | |
|---|---|
| 01 – 03/2025 | Postdoctoral Fellowship, KSB Stiftung Stipendium (DAAD-Stiftung) Visiting stay at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge |
| 06/2020 – 12/2022 | Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes PhD scholarship |
| 2021 | Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) AESOP Young Academics Best Paper Prize 2021 |
| 09/2019 | Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Scholarship to take part in the ISA-RC21 Conference in Delhi |
| 09/2019 | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) Foundation RC21-IJURR Summer School in Delhi |
| 10/2017 | Departmental Award, The Bartlett School of Planning, UCL Prize for excellent academic achievements |
| 07/2013 – 09/2017 | Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes Scholarship for outstanding academic talent |
| 09/2014 – 05/2016 | Fellowship International Graduate School ‘Kolleg Europa’ German Academic Scholarship Foundation, DAAD, Alfred-Toepfer-Stiftung, Working Group ‘The European City as Utopia’ |
| 09/2013 – 07/2014 | European Union Erasmus scholarship |
| Memberships | |
|---|---|
| 2021 – now | Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) |
| 2019 – now | RC21 of the of the International Sociology Association (ISA) |
Edited volumes
- 2023. Autoritärer Urbanismus. sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. 11(3/4). with Daniela Zupan & Kristine Beurskens.
- 2021. digital war besser: Schwerpunkt zu Stadt und Digitalisierung. sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. 9(1/2). with Justin Kadi.
Peer-reviewed articles
- 2023. State-civil society relations in the negotiation of counterstrategies against the far right: the case of Cottbus, East Germany. Territory, Politics, Governance. Online first.
- 2023. From scandalisation to normalisation: Conceptualising the normalisation of far-right contestations in participatory processes. European Planning Studies. 31(8), 1575–1593.
- 2021. Disrupting dialogue: Participatory urban governance in times of far-right contestations. Urban Planning. Special Issue: Migration-led institutional change in urban development and planning. 6(2), 91-102.
- 2021. Proximity and distance: Navigating a field of tension in the qualitative research of the German far right during COVID-19. International Journal for Urban and Regional Research (IJURR). Spotlight On: PhD research in times of a pandemic. with Leon Rosa Reichle.
- 2021. Ambivalent healing: Notes on the idea of therapeutic planning. Engagée. 10, 102-107.
- 2019. Infrastructures of reception: The spatial politics of refuge in Mannheim, Germany. Political Geography. 71. 78-90. with Camillo Boano.
Book chapters
- 2025. Infrastrukturelle Territorialisierung: von unpolitischen Umgehungsstraßen und vereinnahmten Plattformen. Autor:innenkollektiv Terra-R. Das Ende rechter Räume. Zu Territorialisierungen der radikalen Rechten. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot. 129-148. with Valentin Domann and Matthias Naumann.
- 2024. Eine Aufgabe, verschiedene Vorgehensweisen: Die Landesstrukturentwicklungsgesellschaften in den deutschen Braunkohlerevieren im Vergleich. ARL. Badelt, O. et al. Transformationsprozesse in Stadt und Land. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 12-38. with Juliane Ribeck-Lampel.
- 2020. Zuwanderungspolitiken von Hochschulstädten: Lokale Koalitionen und Governanceformen. Egner, B. & Sack, D. Neue Koalitionen – alte Probleme? Lokale Entscheidungsprozesse im Wandel. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 153-180. with Henning Boeth und Manfred Kühn.
Miscellanea
- 2023. Was heißt hier Widerstand? Widerständige Praktiken im Kontext von Autoritärem Urbanismus. sub\urban zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. (11(3/4), 233-243. with Daniela Zupan, Matthias Naumann, Kristine Beurskens.
- 2023. Forums of Discussion: sub\urban - journal for critical urban research. Urban Political Podcast. with Nina Gribat.
- 2018. Refugee spaces: The actual spaces of migration. The Bartlett Development Planning Unit. London: UCL. http://www.refugeespaces.org/ with Giovanna Astolfo, Camillo Boano, Kayvan Karimi, Ed Manley.
- 2014. Zu Gast bei: Hack and the City. RENK. Onlinemagazin. www.renk-magazin.de/hack-and-the-city/
- 2014. Vom Wurzeln schlagen. Verein 925 Kubschütz. Leipzig: Arnold & Domnick. 161-165.
Edited volumes
- 2023. Autoritärer Urbanismus. sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. 11(3/4). with Daniela Zupan & Kristine Beurskens.
- 2021. digital war besser: Schwerpunkt zu Stadt und Digitalisierung. sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. 9(1/2). with Justin Kadi.
Peer-reviewed articles
- 2023. State-civil society relations in the negotiation of counterstrategies against the far right: the case of Cottbus, East Germany. Territory, Politics, Governance. Online first.
- 2023. From scandalisation to normalisation: Conceptualising the normalisation of far-right contestations in participatory processes. European Planning Studies. 31(8), 1575–1593.
- 2021. Disrupting dialogue: Participatory urban governance in times of far-right contestations. Urban Planning. Special Issue: Migration-led institutional change in urban development and planning. 6(2), 91-102.
- 2021. Proximity and distance: Navigating a field of tension in the qualitative research of the German far right during COVID-19. International Journal for Urban and Regional Research (IJURR). Spotlight On: PhD research in times of a pandemic. with Leon Rosa Reichle.
- 2021. Ambivalent healing: Notes on the idea of therapeutic planning. Engagée. 10, 102-107.
- 2019. Infrastructures of reception: The spatial politics of refuge in Mannheim, Germany. Political Geography. 71. 78-90. with Camillo Boano.
Book chapters
- 2025. Infrastrukturelle Territorialisierung: von unpolitischen Umgehungsstraßen und vereinnahmten Plattformen. Autor:innenkollektiv Terra-R. Das Ende rechter Räume. Zu Territorialisierungen der radikalen Rechten. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot. 129-148. with Valentin Domann and Matthias Naumann.
- 2024. Eine Aufgabe, verschiedene Vorgehensweisen: Die Landesstrukturentwicklungsgesellschaften in den deutschen Braunkohlerevieren im Vergleich. ARL. Badelt, O. et al. Transformationsprozesse in Stadt und Land. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 12-38. with Juliane Ribeck-Lampel.
- 2020. Zuwanderungspolitiken von Hochschulstädten: Lokale Koalitionen und Governanceformen. Egner, B. & Sack, D. Neue Koalitionen – alte Probleme? Lokale Entscheidungsprozesse im Wandel. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. 153-180. with Henning Boeth und Manfred Kühn.
Miscellanea
- 2023. Was heißt hier Widerstand? Widerständige Praktiken im Kontext von Autoritärem Urbanismus. sub\urban zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung. (11(3/4), 233-243. with Daniela Zupan, Matthias Naumann, Kristine Beurskens.
- 2023. Forums of Discussion: sub\urban - journal for critical urban research. Urban Political Podcast. with Nina Gribat.
- 2018. Refugee spaces: The actual spaces of migration. The Bartlett Development Planning Unit. London: UCL. http://www.refugeespaces.org/ with Giovanna Astolfo, Camillo Boano, Kayvan Karimi, Ed Manley.
- 2014. Zu Gast bei: Hack and the City. RENK. Onlinemagazin. www.renk-magazin.de/hack-and-the-city/
- 2014. Vom Wurzeln schlagen. Verein 925 Kubschütz. Leipzig: Arnold & Domnick. 161-165.