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Meet the Team
Our interdisciplinary team consists of professors and researchers from three European Universities (KUL, VUB, HUA) and an International Advisory Board aiming to underpin the amalgamation of political economy of land, law and socio-spatial science/geography towards a holistic understanding of LCs governance.
is professor of Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development in the Department of Architecture at KU Leuven, and head of the Planning & Development (P&D) Research Unit and the Network for European Spatial Planning and Development (ESDP). He has 25 years of experience in the field of spatial development analysis and planning, in research and practice.
is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU Leuven. She is an environmental social scientist with inter- and transdisciplinary interests in the ways societies relate to the natural environment and deal with sustainability challenges. Constanza brings to DOMINIA expertise on governance of socio-ecological systems, social innovation and social sustainability, and forest commons.
is architect engineer, postdoctoral researcher and member of Planning and Development (P&D) Research Unit in the Department of Architecture at KU Leuven. Her experience focuses on urban and spatial planning, land policy, European commons and risk governance. She is currently studying the cases of Neighbourhood forests in Spain, Astypalaian commons in Greece, food commoning in Leuven and Community Land Trust in Leuven..
is Professor at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at VUB and coordinator of the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS). He holds an acknowledged expertise on the interactions between property, environmental law and the commons.
Alessia Tanas
is a member of the LSTS Research Group. Her research interests focus on the interactions between law, the environment and the commons. She holds long-standing expertise in EU energy regulation and Climate policy. She is involved in the project ‘Commoning’ - studying
 commons’ in Brussels Region. 
Thomas Figuera
Is a PhD researcher and member of the LSTS research group. He is a graduate of the Marseille School of Architecture and holds a post-graduate degree in "research in architecture and philosophy" from the La Vilette School in Paris. His research interests focus on urban commons, relations that operate between individuals, social groups, institutions and territories, particularly through the lens of class, race and gender dominations, and the impact of commons in the urban policies.
is Emeritus Professor at Harokopio University of Athens specialized in Spatial Planning, Urban Development, Land Values, Property Development, Urban Vulnerability and Disaster Management. He brings to DOMINIA expertise on political economy of land and EU planning systems.
Sophia Tektonidou
is an architect engineer. She is a Ph.D. researcher in the Faculty of Geography at Harokopio University of Athens (Greece), supported by FWO funding. Her research interests include landed commons and the symbolic value of landscape. Her study is currently focused on commons in Kythira Island, Greece and the communal forest of Templin in Germany.
Eirini Skrimizea
is a post-doctoral researcher and graduate teaching associate at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU Leuven. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a background in surveying engineering, spatial planning and sustainability studies. Her research focuses on the accelerated intensification of human-environment interactions covering themes such as the development-climate change nexus, community resilience, and the transformation of the commons.
Maxime Zaït
is a member of the LSTS research group (VUB) and co-founder of Communa, non-profit organization working on converting abandoned buildings into urban commons. He holds a master in Law (ULB). His research interests focus on the concept of “urban commons” and its relationship with ownership, governance structures and the role of public authorities.
Collaborators
Ana Maria Brinzanu
was a master student in in Sustainable territorial development at KU Leuven (Erasmus mundus Master Joint Degree) and an action research intern in Dominia project. Her research interests revolve around commoning practices, community empowerment and their potential in sustainable development.
David Alejandro Flores
is a 25 year-old Mexican Engineer in Sustainable Development, who studied at KU Leuven. His interests revolve around Social Innovation, Land Governance, Policy Making and Commons management. David was an intern at the Department of Agroforestry Engineering of the University of Santiago de Compostela, engaged in the examination of Neighbourhood Forests in Spain.
Rihab Oubaidah
is an architect and urban planner. Currently, she is studying Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. She has interdisciplinary interests that vary from urban and spatial planning to sustainability studies, participatory design and the commons. Her current research revolves around the role of the state in the governance of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and focuses on the case of Leuven in Belgium.
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Anna Paul
is a master student in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. Her research interests revolve around gender studies, postcolonialism, climate change, and the commons. Her current research investigates the livelihoods of women in rural Morocco and the governance of the commons (forest and water) against the backdrop of climate change and capitalist expansion.
Klara Davidovic
is a 25 year-old Italian Master student in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. Her interests concentrate on Sustainable Tourism, Rural Development, Commons management, Gender Topics, and Decoloniality. Her current research revolves around women’s cooperatives in the argan forest in Morocco and their argan oil production practices; Klara is investigating the role of such commoning processes in empowering women and fostering sustainable rural development.
Rosa Beghi
is a master student in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. Her master thesis research concerns transformed historical commons looking at the Argan oil boom in Morocco, the contemporary argan oil value chain, and the related sustainability issues, particularly social development and ecological conservation.
International Advisory Board
Italy
Prof. Nicola Capone | University of Salerno
Prof. Enrico Formate | Univ. Fedeco II of Naples
Sweden
Spain
Prof. Ignacio Javier Diaz-Maroto Hidalgo
University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia
Germany
Belgium
Prof. Frank Moulaert | KU Leuven
France
Prof. Jose Serrano | University of Tour