Ass. Prof. Dr. Patrick A. Witte (1988) is Associate Professor in Spatial Planning. His research focuses on integrated spatial planning, transport infrastructure systems, and digital planning of cities. He has authored or co-authored nearly 60 international, peer-reviewed academic journal articles. Patrick has recently published an international handbook on spatial planning and is involved as editor or guest editor of various international journals.

Patrick is currently developing the following lines of research:

• Spatial and economic implications of large-scale infrastructure development
  Patrick focuses on integrated corridor development, inland port development and smart urban mobility. The granted INTERREG IV-B NWE project CODE24 (2014) is part of this research line, as are the PhD projects of Yang (2018), Delphine (2019) and Suprayoga (2020). Patrick has a long-term and ongoing collaboration with Bart Wiegmans (Province of Noord-Holland, TU Delft) on port system development and intermodal freight transport. Patrick was lead editor of a Special Issue on inland port development (Journal of Transport Geography, 2020).
• Digital planning and smart cities
  Patrick focuses on digital technologies in urban planning, focusing on planning support science and smart urban governance. The granted JPI ENSUF Urban Europe project FLOODLABEL (2017) is part of this research line, as are the PhD projects of Jiang (2021), Snel (2021) and Chai (anticipated 2024). Patrick co-edited a Special Issue on digital planning for sustainable urban futures (Computers, Environments and Urban Systems, forthcoming 2024), digital technologies in urban planning (Journal of Urban Management, 2023) and smart urban governance for climate change adaptation (Urban Planning, 2021).

Patrick is also a visiting researcher to the KRITIS research group of TU Darmstadt (PhD project of Punt on critical infrastructure governance) and the School of Spatial Planning of TU Dortmund (PhD project of Dral on governance, legitimacy and participation). He is editorial board member of the international academic journal Urban Planning, of the Dutch/Flemish academic publisher InPlanning. He is academic advisor of the Kennisadviescommissie WLO2024 and the IkBenWaterproof collaboration between Utrecht University and Witteveen+Bos.

Patrick is the master coordinator and chair of the Academic School of the Human Geography and Planning teaching institute. He is also program director of the Master’s program in Spatial Planning, which was awarded the AESOP Certificate of Quality for Excellence in Education (2019). He coordinates and teaches courses in the Master’s program (Master’s thesis/internship, Urban Governance in Spatial Planning) and the Bachelor’s program Human Geography and Planning (Planning Studios, Dutch Planning System). He was a selected participant in the Educational Leadership Program of Utrecht University and is now participating as a member of the university-wide education committee of Institutions for Open Societies (IOS).