Nordregio is an international research institute established by the Nordic Council of Ministers

Senior Research Advisor (on parental leave)

Linnea Löfving

Linnea is a social scientist with a background in Political Science and International Relations. Her main research interests are governance processes and political change related to regional development, sustainability and EU policy.

Spatial Story

The first thing I do when I come to a new place is to locate where the ocean is. Within the next hours or days, I always make sure to find a high point with an overview of the city. I think it brings me a sense of freedom knowing where I am and where I am going.

The places where I lived all had a special connection to the ocean, Gothenburg, Brighton, Barcelona and Stockholm. And I don’t think I could live in a place where the ocean is not present. The ocean is something that is living, moving and changing and in high contrast to the robust and constant streets and buildings.

After I started studying history and political science at University, travelling became intertwined with discovering new dimensions of a place. I wanted to learn why a country or city had developed in a certain way, why people act or vote in a certain way, why systems look different in different places. I think this is the basis for my interest in policy and why policy is created.

Publications

Löfving, L., Kamuf, V., Heleniak, T., Weck, S., & Norlén, G. (2021). Can digitalization be a tool to overcome spatial injustice in sparsely populated regions? The cases of Digital Västerbotten (Sweden) and Smart Country Side (Germany). European Planning Studies, 30(5), 917–934. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2021.1928053

Moodie, J., Tapia, C., Löfving, L., Sánchez Gassen, N., and Cedergren, E.,. (2021). “Towards a Territorially Just Climate Transition—Assessing the Swedish EU Territorial Just Transition Plan Development Process” Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7505. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137505

Bourdin, S., Moodie, J., Gassen, N. S., Evers, D., Adobati, F., Amdaoud, M., Arcuri, G., Casti. E., Cottereau, V., Eva, M., Lőcsei, H., Laţu, C., Ibănescu, B., Jean-Pierre, F., Hermet, F., Levratto, N., Löfving, L., Coll-Martinez, E., Psycharis, Y., Salenius, V., & Remete, Z., (2023). COVID-19 as a systemic shock: curb or catalyst for proactive policies towards territorial cohesion? Regional Studies, 58(8), 1543–1556. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2023.2242387

Copus, A., Kahila, P., Dax, T., Kovács, K., Tagai, G., Weber, R., Grunfelder, J., Meredith, D., Ortega-Reig, M., Piras, S. Löfving, L., Moodie, J.R. Fritsch, M. & Ferrandis, A. (2021). European shrinking rural areas: Key messages for a refreshed long-term vision. TERRA: Revista de Desarrollo Local, (8), pp.280-309. DOI: 10.7203/terra.8.20366

Löfving, L., Lundgren, A., (2022), Mälardalsrådets En Bättre Sits-samarbete, Utvärdering av processen 2018-2020, Mälardalsrådet Rapport EBS_220314.indd

Teräs, J., Löfving, L., Huynh, D., Evaluation of the Academy for Smart specialisation, OECD report https://doi.org/10.1787/52360eb2-en

Weber, R., Grunfelder, J. Löfving, L., Moodie, J. (2020) ESCAPE: European Shrinking Rural Areas: ESPON ESCAPE Final Report. ESPON, Luxembourg. https://www.espon.eu/escape

Academic qualifications

MSc in International Relations – “Globalisation, Environment and Social Change”, Department of Economic History, Stockholm University, 2016-2018

BSc in Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, 2013-2016

Languages

Swedish

English

Understands Norwegian, Danish and Spanish

Prior positions

2018: Project Assistant, Swedish Transport Administration

2017: Intern, International department at the Swedish Parliament

2015: Project Assistant and Intern, Tankesmedjan Global Utmaning