Prof. Kostantinos Lalenis
Department of Planning and Regional Development
University of Thessaly
Short CV:
Dr Konstantinos Lalenis (MEng., PhD) has been Professor of Urban Planning and Governance in the Department of Planning and Regional Development of the University of Thessaly. He has worked as Urban Planner and Transportation Engineer in Greece and Canada. He is currently the owner and director of a consultancy firm specialized in Urban Planning, Transportation, and Local Development projects. He was a visiting scholar in Technion University (Haifa, Israel), York University (Toronto, Canada), and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Melbourne, Australia). He has served as a Local Councilor of the Municipality of Kavala, Greece. His is specialized in Urban, Regional, and Transportation Planning, and in Urban Governance with special emphasis in Public Participation. He was awarded twice in Panhellenic Competitions in Urban Planning (2nd prize), once in a Panhellenic Architectural Competition (being a special consultant in urban planning issues, 2nd prize), and once in a Competition in Urban Regeneration of the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace (2nd prize). He was also awarded, for Excellence in Teaching by the Association of European Schools of Planning, for Academic Excellence by the Greek Ministry of Education, and his Urban Regeneration proposal was selected as one of the two best practices on the national level. He has participated in 12 European and national research projects as an expert / special consultant / member of steering committees (7 international), and in the elaboration of 27 (12 international), being scientific coordinator in 19 of them (9 international). He has numerous publications in scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings. His experience as planning practitioner is also remarkable, having elaborated 12 municipal and/or regional Master Plans (in 9 as main contractor), 2 Land Use Plans (main contractor), 23 City Plans (main contractor/head of the working unit), one Urban Regeneration Plan (main contractor), one Special Spatial Plan (head of the working unit), one Master Plan for a university campus (head of the working unit), and 39 transportation projects (in 28 as a main contractor/head of the working unit). His current research interests include urban resilience issues, and particularly, approaching the spatial dimensions of the refugee crisis through the concept of urban resilience, the use of blockchain technology in land registration, urban planning, and urban governance, and the effect of territorial boundaries / walls in the city environment and functions.