Natascha Helmer
Natascha Helmer works at the intersection of systemic co-design, regenerative urban development, and more-than-human governance. In her PhD research, she explores how more-than-human agency can be approached relationally, and how co-design can contribute to making this visible and actionable in regenerative urban transitions.
Her research, which started in 2026, combines qualitative, participatory, and arts-based methods to explore how ecological agency can be embedded in urban decision-making. With an MA in Cultural Sociology (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and a BA from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, she brings an interdisciplinary and practice-oriented approach to governance, participation, and regeneration.
The PhD project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Niki Frantzeskaki (Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences) and is conducted in close collaboration with the Research Group Co-Design at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht.
Expertises
- Arts-based & co-design methods
- More-than-human perspectives
- Ecological agency
"What changes when humans are no longer the default point of departure?"
