Caroline Dahl

Caroline Dahl is a senior lecturer in landscape architecture at the Department of landscape architecture, planning and management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Caroline is trained as an urban planner& designer at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (Professional Master of Spatial Planning) in Karlskrona, Sweden, and as an architect at SCI-Arc, Southern California Institute of Architecture (Master of Architecture) in Los Angeles, USA. With a Ph.D. in landscape architecture the research interest deals with transforming urban landscapes and how transformation can be orchestrated through increased awareness to site, temporalities, stakeholder constellations and iterative processes. Approaches to research includes transdisciplinary and design research.

In addition to research and teaching, Caroline is vice dean at the LTV-faculty with responsibility for education at undergraduate and graduate level. She has been the program study director for the 5 year professional landscape architecture program in Alnarp, and the international master's program in landscape architecture. At the department, Caroline also works as subject area responsible for the subject of design of urban landscapes. 2010-2016 she worked at SLU as project manager of the research platform FUSE (Future Urban Sustainable Environments) and between 2016-2023 she was the head of the SLU Think Tank Movium working at the intersection of urban nature and public space. She also served on the editorial board of the Swedish professional magazine STAD, dedicated to debate and reflections on contemporary urban landscapes. 

In concurrence with her academic engagement, she runs a research oriented design practice committed to mediate the intersections and overlaps between architecture and urbanism. Caroline has worked for various public and private authorities with urban planning, design, and renewal. She has served on various juries and boards related to landscape architecture, architecture and urban design. In 2023 she was appointed an expert in a governmental task force with the commission to develop a new structure for national planning. 

Caroline's research focuses on the transformation of urbanized landscapes. Drawing on landscape architecture's inherent abilities to support dynamic processes, to accept the underdeveloped as potential, and to channel action-oriented site knowledge, the research aims to introduce a landscape perspective and design thinking into landscape change. One strand of the research studies alternatives to conventional planning instruments to support the transformation of urban landscapes. Research has been conducted and is ongoing on contemporary transformation projects, including Ile de Nantes in Nantes, France, and Frihamnen in Gothenburg, Sweden. Another strand deals with landscapes in urban peripheries and how design can contribute to illustrating the stories of places, including all life forms.

Caroline Dahl is Vice-Dean at the LTV Faculty with responsibility for undergraduate and graduate education. Caroline has extensive experience teaching and supervising in Sweden and abroad. She is the course responsible for the course Studio Project: Transforming Urban Landscapes and the course Landscape Architecture Theory, Methodology and Practice, both of which are offered in the Landscape Architecture Master's Programme and the 5 year Professional Landscape Architecture Programme. 

Caroline's research focuses on transdiciplinary research why collaboration with practice and society at large are of great importance. She has been head for the outreach unit SLU Think Tank Movium between the years 2016-2023. More information at: www.slu.se/movium

Peer-reviewed 

Dahl, C. (2024). About time: navigating temporalities in urban transformation. In: Ingaramo, R., Negrello, M., Pollo, R. (eds.) Adaptive to resist + Mitigate. Siracuse: LetteraVentidue Edizioni.

Dahl, C. and Andreasson, D. (2024) "Do you see the forest for all the trees? - Searching for Alnarp’s Urban Forestscapes". SPOOL 12:1 

Dahl, C. (2021). "Beyond Beauty: Aesthetics Under Climate Regimes". In: K. Nilsson, R. Webber & L. Rohrer (eds.). Green Visions: Greenspace Planning and Design in Nordic Cities. Stockholm: Arvinius+Orfeus

Caroline Dahl & Lisa Diedrich (2020) ”Building transformative capacities: integrating design research into port-city transformation”, PORTUSplus. 9, (Nov. 2020). https://portusplus.org/index.php/pp/article/view/207

Dahl, C. (2020). "Building transformative capacities : links between site and plan in post-industrial urban landscapes". (Dissertation) Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Dahl, C. (2019) Post-industrial Landscapes in Urban Transformation. In: Dahl, PJ., Pollo, R., Thiebat, F., Micono, C., Zanzottera, G. (eds.) The architectural sustainable design: An experimental Approach. Milano: FrancoAngeli

Lisa Diedrich & Caroline Dahl (2016) ”Ile de Nantes 2000–2010: a method for the meantime?”, Journal of Landscape Architecture, 11:2, 72-83, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2016.1188576

Dahl, Caroline (2016) “Gothenborg’s Jublieumsparken 0.5 and Frihamnen: explorations into the aesthetic of DIY”, SPOOL Vol 3, No2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/spool.2016.2.1115

Peer-reviewed proceedings

Dahl, C., Dahl, P-J., Aranda-Mena, G. (2024). Re-Designing the Australian Dream: Homeness Imaginaries in Emerging Residential Typologies. In. F. Zhang, R. Yu, C. Bischeri, T. Liu, and M. Khoshbakht (eds.), Harmony in Architectural Science and Design: Sustaining the Future. Proceedings of the 57th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2024, pp. 1–8. ©2024, The Architectural Science Association and Griffith University, Australia.

Aranda-Mena, G., Dahl, P-J., Dahl, C. (2018). Learning from dense cities: Hong Kong spatial construct as narratives. In: P. Rajagopalan and M.M Andamon (eds.). Engaging Architectural Science: Meeting the Challenges of Higher Density: 52nd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2018, pp.753–759. The Architectural Science Association and RMIT University, Australia

Dahl, P-J., Cusma, D., Dahl, C. (2016). Education through Experimentation: Elucidating the Intersection Between RIEAch and Design Thinking. In: M. Uddin, M. Şahin, T. Özbil (eds.). Design Communication European Conference: Inclusiveness in Design, pp.13-21. 

Böcker och bokkapitel 

Dahl, Caroline & Olsson, Titti (eds.) (2023) Prototypa! Bygga platser tillsammans. Alnarp: Stad&Land 194

Dahl, C., Dahl, P-J, Nilsson, K. (2019) Plan Redux: om tidsdjup i omvandlingen av Frihamnen. Alnarp: Movium Partnerskap.

Dahl, Caroline (2017) "Att klyva ytan" in Höra hemma: om det bostadspolitiska dilemmat. Stockholm: Arkdes Resumé.

Per Hedfors & Caroline Dahl (eds.) (2015) Urkunder och husgudar – pionjärernas litteratur och andra källor till landskapsarkitektur. Alnarp: Movium  

Dahl, Per-Johan & Dahl, Caroline., (2012). Loft P – Tracing the Architecture of the Loft. Wien New York: Springer.

Cha, R., Dahl C., Lofti, A. (2008) ”Cohabitation” in Ilka and Andreas Ruby (eds.) Urban Transformation. Berlin:Ruby Press.

Handböcker och faktablad

Dahl, C. (2021). Platsspecifika designprocesser. [Fact sheet]. Movium Fakta 1. Alnarp: Tankesmedjan Movium.

Blomberg, P., Aldman, K., Lindholm, G., Dahl, C. and Klein, H. (2020). Grönplanering: en handledning. Alnarp: Tankesmedjan Movium vid SLU. https://www.movium.slu.se/system/files/news/14536/files/kristianstad_20200630.pdf

Tankesmedjan Movium. (2019) Urbana Ekosystemtjänster – arbeta med naturen för goda livsmiljöer. Alnarp: Stad&Land 188

Dahl, C. and Klein, H. (2008). Bostadens yttre värden. Malmö: Länsstyrelsen I Skåne län.