Geoffrey

Caruso

I am Professor for Urban Analysis and Modelling - a joint chair of the University of Luxembourg and LISER - since May 2017, and  conduct research on various topics within the quantitative urban geography, city science, spatial analytics or land use and transport interactions fields. Urban modelling and quantitative spatial analysis have always been a key component of my research, with a very particular focus on integrating dynamic simulation tools and micro-economics and allying both theoretical and applied perspectives.

Prior to joining the University of Luxembourg in 2007 as an Associate Professor in Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Planning, I have obtained a PhD in Geographical Sciences at the Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain- la-Neuve, Belgium) after writing a PhD on periurbanisation where I linked Cellular-Automata models with Urban Economic theory. I then worked as a Research Associate at the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and as an FNRS fellow at the Centre for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. In England, I learned to interact with urban planners and linked my research to operational transportation models and agent-based approaches. In Louvain-la-Neuve, I benefited from many interactions with economists from whom I particularly appreciate the parsimony and formalism.

I like to think that as a geographer we can bring finer spatial forms and interactions into economics, therefore providing opportunities to add explicit environmental and social externalities as well as a better understanding of transportation decisions when assessing the social wellbeing and the environmental sustainability of cities. Geography is defined by its spatial perspective rather than a by specific subject, hence it is interdisciplinary by nature and I enjoy working with physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, transport engineers, environmental scientists or historians a part of my daily activities.