Dr. Christin Müller

• Digital transformation of planning
• Municipal decision-making
• Spatial negotiation processes
• Digital citizen participation

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the “Land Use Systems” research group at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). My work focuses on spatial planning practices, e-participation, planning methods, municipal decision-making processes, and the digital transformation of planning.

I investigate how planners evaluate and weigh alternatives against one another, how values and different forms of knowledge shape spatial decisions, how planning processes can be made more transparent and methodologically sound, and how these work processes in planning practice are changing as part of the digital transformation. My research combines theoretical work with empirical approaches, including surveys, interviews, experiments, document analysis, and organizational ethnography.

As part of the DISCLOSE project funded by the SNF, I am investigating how digitalization is changing everyday spatial planning and regulatory practices. I examine how planners use digital tools and how these technologies influence professional interactions, discretionary powers, spatial representations, and the integration of data and knowledge.

Digital transformation of spatial planning practice

Digital planning is not simply about introducing new technologies. Digital tools can change how planners interact, make decisions, represent spatial realities, and combine different forms of knowledge.

Within DISCLOSE, I study how digitalisation transforms everyday land-use planning and regulatory practice. Using organisational ethnography, I follow planners in their daily work, observing desk-based activities, meetings, and collaborative processes. These observations are complemented by a survey, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis.

The research addresses questions such as:

• How and for which purposes do planners use digital tools? 
• How do digital technologies reshape interactions between planners and other actors? 
• How do they influence professional judgement and decision-making? 
• How do digital representations shape the understanding of plans and places? 
• How does digitalisation reorganise established workflows, responsibilities, and relationships?

Müller, C. & Hersperger, A. M. (2026): Raumbezogene Entscheidungsfindungsprozesse im digitalen Wandel: Wünsche, Einsatz und Einflussfaktoren digitaler Technologien. Standort. DOI: 10.1007/s00548-026-01058-z.

Diller, C. & Müller, C. (2026): Planning process models and planning theory approaches: Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence from a survey of planning practitioners. disP – The Planning Review, 62(2), pp. 1–17. DOI: 10.1080/02513625.2026.2665537.

Müller, C. & Fentroß, T. (2026): Transparency in the municipal planning process: dimensions, causal relationships, interactions, and the role of evaluation in spatial decision-making Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning. DOI: 10.14512/rur.3395

Müller, C. (2025): Beleuchtung der Blackbox raumbezogener Entscheidungsfindung und darauf aufbauende methodische Weiterentwicklung: Alternativenbewertung und Alternativenabwägung beispielhaft am kommunalen Planungsprozess. Dissertation. Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. DOI: 10.22029/jlupub-20506

Müller, C. / Senßfelder, A. / Diller, C. (2025): Values in the evaluation and consideration process – an experimental study on values in a spatial context. Erdkunde, 79(2). DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2025.02.01

Müller, C. / Bongers-Römer S. / Bakunowitsch, J./ Diller C. (2024): Balancing, alternatives and variants in municipal planning processes: general considerations and results of an empirical analysis. RuR. DOI: 10.14512/rur.2538

Müller, C. & Karic S. (2024): Municipal e-participation systems. Requirements from the perspective of providers and users. In: Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning. DOI: 10.14512/rur.2229

Leadership Women’s Peer Mentoring Group (PMG) - WSL 

ARL - Academy for Spatial Development within the Leibniz Association - Young Researchers Forum 

DVAG - German Association for Applied Geography 

• DISCLOSE – The Digital Transformation of Spatial Planning 

• ORCID: 0000-0002-8801-003X 

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