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Robert John

Prof.Dr. Pregernig, Michael

Chair of Sustainability Governance

Institute of Environmental Social Sciences and Geography
Tennenbacher Str. 4
D-79106 Freiburg

Telephone: +49 761 203 67942

Email:
Office hours: Wednesday 14:00 - 16:00 or by appointment

 

 
 

Research Interests   |   Publications  |   Courses Taught  |   Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

Robert John’s main research interests revolve around the political economy of the built environment and political ecology of natural resource markets and their societal contestation. He has been analysing the conflicts around the establishment of sand markets, the artificial production of land (reclamation) and their subsequent transformation into real estate since 2016. His current research foci are in the following areas:
  • Political Ecology of natural resources (sand mining, reclamation of waterbodies)
  • Political Economy of built environment (capitalist crisis, money laundry)
  • Urbanization processes and their material metabolism
  • New materialist thinking and assemblage theory
  • Geographies of Marketization
  • Decolonial theories and relational ontologies
  • Regional focus: Southeast - and South Asia

 

Memberships

  • Member of the “Sandscapes Collective” | Link

(since 10.2018)

 

Scholarships and Awards

  • Research-scholarship, granted by the German Academic Exchange Service

(04.2018 – 10.2018)

  • PhD-scholarship, granted by the Landesgraduiertenförderung Baden-Württemberg

(10.2017 -10.2018)

 

Project Participation

  • Marketization of sand in Cambodia: global networks, conflicts and materialities | Link

(DFG Project, 2018-2022)

 

Publications   [ORCID]   [ResearchGate]

 

Journal Articles

  • John, R. (2021): Sand geographies: Disentangling the material foundations of the built environment. Geography Compass, 15(5). | https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12560
  • John, R., Jamieson, W. (2020): Singapore’s Scentless Growth is Built on the Brutal Extraction of Cambodian Sand and Imported Labour. Failed Architecture. | Link

 

Book Chapters

  • John, R. (2020): Mineralische Ressourcen: Sande – das selten beachtete Fundament der physischen Wirtschaft. In: Geographie: Physische Geographie und Humangeographie. Springer; 1226-1239. ISBN: 978-3-662-58378-4

 

Other Publications

  • John, R. ( 2023): Verflüssigtes Land: Sandraub und Bauboom in Kambodscha. Freiburg: iz3w, 399: https://www.iz3w.org/artikel/bauboom-sandraub-vertreibung-phnom-penh
  • John, R. (2021): Sand: Konflikte um einen der wichtigsten Baustoffe. Köln: Stiftung Asienhaus: https://www.asienhaus.de/nc/aktuelles/detail/sand-konflikte-um-einen-der-wichtigsten-baustoffe/
  • John, R. (2021): Sand: Konflikte um einen der wichtigsten Baustoffe. Köln: Stiftung Asienhaus. | Link
  • Spaeth, P., Hawxwell, T., John, R., Li, S., Löffler, E., Riener, V., Utkarsh, S. (2017): Smart-Eco Cities in Germany: Trends and City Profiles. Exeter: University of Exeter.
  • Adelina, C., Hill, C., John, R., Kuttler, T., Rajan, S.C., Roul, A., & Woiwode, C. (2015): Peri-urban Dynamics and Sustainability in Chennai: The Case of Sriperumbudur. (Tagungsband N-AERUS XVI, 2015, Dortmund) 2015

 

Scientific Talks

  • John, R. (2022):  Podiumsdisukssion: Wie Sand am Meer? (Engagement Global, München Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2022): Sand logistics in times of economic crisis: The infrastructures of Inland reclamation in Cambodia. (Annual Meeting - American Association of Geographers Conference, New York, USA)
  • John, R. (2021): Sandabbau in Kambodscha: Eine Herausforderungen für Mensch, Umwelt und gute Regierungsführung. (Stiftung Asienhaus Online-Event, Deutschland)
  • John, R., Mattissek, A. (2021): Finanzialisierung des kambodschanischen Immobilienmarktes:
    Sozial-ökologische Folgen der räumlichen Fixierung von (inter)nationalem Kapital. (GeoWoche, Online, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2021): Bausande in Kambodscha. (Unterwasserwelten Camp: Think Global – Dive Local!, Ettenheim, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2021): Land use transformation in Phnom Penh: A mixed method approach to infilling in urbanizing floodplains. (Research Seminar: Land use and scarcity problems, measuring land use in global supply chains, and land use policy, Freiburg, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2021): Illicit Flows: The (inter)national business with sand in Cambodia. (Third International Forest Policy Meeting, Freiburg, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2020): The Formation of Labour and Activism in Extractive Frontier Assemblages. (Third Biennial Conference of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN), Brighton, United Kingdom)
  • John, R. (2019): Bauboom in Phnom Penh: Chinesische Immobilienspekulation in Kambodscha. (Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, Kiel, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2019): Sand logistics: The infrastructures of landfilling and construction sites in Cambodia. (Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, Kiel, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2019): Methodology of studying sand in Cambodia: global networks, conflicts and materialities. (Night of Science, Freiburg, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2018): The global resource frontier of constriction sand: A new research issue for political ecology. (Forschungswerkstatt Politische Ökologie, Augsburg, Deutschland)
  • John, R. (2018): Sand-mining in Southeast Asia: A new economic frontier. (RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Cardiff, England)
  • John, R. (2018): Vermarktlichungsprozesse von Natur: Sand als kapitalistischer Frontier. (Neue Kulturgeographie Tagungsreihe, Freiburg, Deutschland)
  • Mattissek, A., John, R. (2018): The role of materiality in resource extraction, marketization and conflicts. The example of sand mining. 2018 (AAG Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA)
  • John, R. (2017): Globale Neoliberalisierung von/in der Natur: Globale Ethnographien und kritische Materialitäten der Aneignung natürlicher Ressourcen. 2017 (Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, Tübingen, Deutschland)

 

Courses Taught

  • "Global Societal Change" (Core Module, Master of Environmental Governance)
  • "Ecosystem Management" (Core Module, Master of Environmental Governance)
  • "Development Cooperation: A critical Reflection of Theories and Practices" (Seminar, Master Geography of Global Change)
  • "Transformationsprozesse und Strukturwandel in Ostdeutschland" (Field Course, Master Geography of Global Change)
  • Assistance "Human-Environmental Interactions" (Core Module, Master of Environmental Governance)
  • Assistance "Geographien von Wirtschaft und Entwicklung" (Lecture, Bachelor Geography)
  • Assistance "Einführung in Humangeographische Methoden" (Lecture, Bachelor Geographie Geography)

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

Seit 11/2018

  • Research associate and lecturer at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography at the University of Freiburg
 

Seit 4/2016

  • Doctoral Candidate at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, with the topic " Marketization of sand in Cambodia: global networks, conflicts and materialities"tween sand extraction and its governance mechanisms”
 

03/2015 – 05/2015

  • Research stay at the IIT Madras, Chennai, India
 

11/2014 – 12/2015

  • Research assistant in the international project "Smart Eco Cities: A comparative analysis of European and Chinese cases". | Link
 

2013 – 2015

  • Master of Science in "Environmental Governance" at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
 

2010 – 2011 

  • Initiation, co-conception and organization of two study excursions and seminars to Kenya (Socioeconomic, Environmental Change and Development in Kenya) and China (Business Ethics Issues in a Transitional Economy: China`s Particular Path)
 

2009 – 2013

  • Bachelor of Arts in "Philosophy and Economics" at the University of Bayreuth