Kajsa Emilsson - January 2026

Tell us about who you are and how you got here

I am a social scientist with a background in political science and I work as a researcher in the School of Social Work. I'm not trained as a social worker but the ideas in social work are closely related to my current research projects. Before starting my academic career, I worked for six years as a public official in the unemployment insurance system and for local and regional authorities here in Skåne.

How do your research interests connect to urban issues?

My PhD research was about public attitudes towards sustainable welfare and this is inherently connected to urban contexts. I explored the interactions between environmental sustainability and social welfare, and how local governments and civil society organizations are trying to promote socio-ecological transformations. I found some significant differences between larger and smaller cities. Residents in larger cities are more likely to push for transformational change towards sustainable welfare. These results align quite well with previous research on the urban–rural divide and the ‘progressiveness’ and liberal tendencies of urban residents. Building on my previous research, I have several ideas I would like to explore in future projects that are more practice-based, centred on urban living labs from a sustainable welfare perspective, and characterized by strong participatory engagement of residents.

Do your research projects engage with other disciplines or with non-academic partners?

Yes, my research projects often involve academics from other disciplines as well as non-academics. When I work with researchers in my own discipline, we tend to have a common working method. When I work with researchers in other disciplines, we have to develop a shared approach to collaboration from scratch. And working with partners outside of academia involves a very different type of research altogether. I think particularly with respect to sustainability, we need to collaborate with non-academic partners if we want to accelerate transformation processes.

Do you have a favourite city?

I live in Malmö and I really enjoy it. It’s close to the sea and it’s small so you can go everywhere by bike. But it also has qualities of bigger cities in terms of cultural diversity and lots of creative events. It's a great place to live.

How does the Urban Arena support your research?

I use the Urban Arena to meet people from other departments with different research backgrounds and perspectives. I am particularly interested in learning about different perspectives on urban sustainability. For example, I have a research project that focuses on the role of economic elites in socio-ecological transformations. In global cities like London, we see how cities cater to rich people. I am interested in thinking about how high-income residents contribute (or don’t contribute) to urban sustainability in ways that are very different from middle- and low-income residents.