Dr. Michael Wicki
Dr. Michael Wicki
Lecturer at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
ETH Zürich
Raumentwicklung und Stadtpolitik
Additional information
Research area
In his current research projects, Michael Wicki focuses on the transformation of urban areas, which are both highly affected by climate change and critical players in mitigation and adaptation, He studies how to induce behavioural change with the help of so-called policy packages while at the same time ensuring public acceptance and support. By combining experimental survey research with secondary data analysis, he focuses on citizens’ preferences for large-scale urban infrastructure projects, residents’ acceptance of local densification policies, and views on city climate policy agendas.
Selection of current publications:
- Wicki, Michael, Katrin Hofer & David Kaufmann (2022). Planning instruments enhance the acceptance of urban densification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(38), e2201780119.
- Wicki, Michael & David Kaufmann (2022). Accepting and resisting densification: The importance of project-related factors and the contextualizing role of neighbourhoods. Landscape and Urban Planning, 220, 104350.
- Wicki, Michael, Sohpie Hauller, Thomas Bernauer & David Kaufmann (2024). Beyond a transport node? What residents want from transforming railway stations. European Planning Studies, 32(1), 1-23.
- Wicki, Michael, Robert A. Huber & Thomas Bernauer (2020). «Can policy-packaging increase public support for costly policies? Insights from a choice experiment on policies against vehicle emissions» Journal of Public Policy, 40(4), 599-625.
- Kaufmann, David, Michael Wicki, Stefan Wittwer, & Jake Stephan (2024). Democratic discrepancies in urban sustainable development. Nature Sustainability, 1-10.
Michael Wicki (*1989) is a senior researcher (Oberassistent I) in Prof. Dr David Kaufmann's Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) research group at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the feasibility and effectiveness of environmental and climate mitigation policies in urban settings. More specifically, he focuses on public opinion towards such policy issues and to what extent they induce behavioural change, primarily by applying various experimental survey approaches.
In his dissertation, he focused on public opinion towards institutions and policy measures related to the spatial mobility of people. More specifically, he focused on institutional reforms, technological developments such as self-driving busses and measures to induce behavioral change, which often lack of public support. Against this backdrop, his dissertation aims to identify the determinants of public support towards these policies and how support levels can be increased.
Michael also holds a Master’s degree in Public Management and Policy from the University of Bern and the University of Lausanne, and a Bachelor in Political Sciences and Economics from the University of Zurich. He previously worked as a research assistant at the University of Berne in the KPM Center of Public Management (KPM), and as a researcher at ETH Zürich in the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP) and the Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS). His work has been published in leading international journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Environmental Research Letters, Landscape and Urban Planning, Nature Food, Political Geography, and Journal of Cleaner Production.