Thomas

Elmqvist

PhD

Professor

thomas.elmqvist@su.se

+46 70 526 48 06

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Thomas Elmqvist is a professor researching natural resource management and urban landscapes

With a career spanning decades in biodiversity and ecosystem services research, Elmqvist's work centers on understanding and addressing ecosystem dynamics, land use change, urbanization, and natural disturbances within the context of resilience and sustainability. His research is deeply embedded in the science-policy interface, particularly within European and global frameworks, bringing insights from the rapidly changing landscape of the Anthropocene to support adaptive and resilient solutions.

Research Focus

Elmqvist's research investigates critical intersections in resilience and sustainability science, especially in social-ecological systems undergoing rapid transformation. Key areas include:

  • Resilience & Adaptive Management: Examining how resilience functions within sustainable development, particularly under conditions of climate change and other global challenges.
  • Social-Ecological Systems: Promoting urban landscapes as integrated social-ecological systems that require cooperative, cross-sector management.
  • Ecosystem Services in Urban Settings: Demonstrating the value of biodiversity and green spaces in cities for urban health and well-being.
  • Nature-Based Solutions: Developing actionable frameworks for enhancing ecosystem services through nature-based solutions in urban and rural landscapes.

Impact and Recognition

As an author of over 125 peer-reviewed articles, 40 books and book chapters, Elmqvist's work has shaped global and regional discussions on urban resilience and biodiversity. His h-index reflects the influence of his research (ISI: 60, Google Scholar: 81), with several publications ranking in the top 1% of their fields.

Key Roles and Achievements

Elmqvist serves as the founding Editor-in-Chief of npj Urban Sustainability, an associate editor for Sustainability Science and Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, and holds advisory roles in leading environmental and science-policy bodies, such as the Volvo Environment Prize committee and Husqvarna’s International Biodiversity Advisory Board. His international policy contributions include leading roles in the UN’s “Cities and Biodiversity Outlook” and Future Earth's "Urban Planet."

Teaching and Mentorship

With over 30 years of experience teaching at leading institutions—including Cornell University, Stockholm University, and the University of Tokyo—Elmqvist has mentored nine Ph.D. students and guided numerous MSc theses, fostering a new generation of scholars and practitioners in resilience and sustainability.

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Staff details

ORCID: 0000-0002-4617-6197

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Publications by Elmqvist, Thomas

Obituary: Professor Jari Niemelä 1957–2022

Journal / article | 2022

Elmqvist, T., Raymond, C., McPhearson, T.. 2022. Obituary: Professor Jari Niemelä 1957–2022. npj Urban Sustainability. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42949-022-00069-7

We are deeply saddened to have learned that Professor Jari Niemelä, former Rector of the University of Helsinki, after a long-term disease, passed away at the age of 64. We have known Jari for many years and his death represents a deep loss for the global research community. Professor Niemelä was a key scholar in the development of urban science, and in particular the ecological dimension of this rapidly emerging field. Being ...

A new urban narrative for sustainable development

Journal / article | 2022

Keith, M., Birch, E., Buchoud, N., Cardama, M., Cobbett, W., Cohen, M., Elmqvist, T., Espey, J., Hajer, M., Hartmann, G., Matsumoto, T., Parnell, S., Revi, A., Roberts, D., Saiz, E., Schwanen, T., Seto, K., Tuts, R., van der Pütten, M.. 2022. A new urban narrative for sustainable development. Nature Sustainability. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00979-5

Nature futures for the urban century: Integrating multiple values into urban management

Journal / article | 2022

Mansur, A. V., McDonald, R. I., Güneralp, B., Kim, H., Puppim de Oliveira, J. A., Callaghan, C. T., Hamel, P., Kuiper, J. J., Wolff, M., Liebelt, V., Martins, I. S., Elmqvist, T., Pereira, H. M. 2022. Nature futures for the urban century: Integrating multiple values into urban management. Environmental Science and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.01.013

There is an emerging consensus that the health of the planet depends on the coexistence between rapidly growing cities and the natural world. One strategy for guiding cities towards sustainability is to facilitate a planning process based on positive visions for urban systems among actors and stakeholders. This paper presents the Urban Nature Futures Framework (UNFF), a framework for scenario building for cities that is based ...

Urban climate resilience through hybrid infrastructure

Journal / article | 2022

Andersson, E., Grimm, N., Lewis, J., Redman, C., Barthel, S., Colding, J., Elmqvist, T. 2022. Urban climate resilience through hybrid infrastructure. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101158

Urban infrastructure will require transformative changes to adapt to changing disturbance patterns. We ask what new opportunities hybrid infrastructure—built environments coupled with landscape-scale biophysical structures and processes—offer for building different layers of resilience critical for dealing with increased variation in the frequency, magnitude and different phases of climate-related disturbances. With its more ...