Katarina Ruberg Hennig
Researcher
Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business (including The Swedish School of Textiles)
— Department of Resource Recovery and Building Technology
Telephone: 033-435 4347
Email: katarina.ruberg_hennig@hb.se
Vivi Katarina Ruberg Hennig is Researcher in Urban Development at the Department of Resource Recovery and Building Technology at Borås University.
She holds a PhD in environmental psychology (LTH, Lund University, 2025) and master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture (SLU, Alnarp, 2000) and Built Environment: Light & Lighting (UCL, London, 2007), and has a solid professional background as practitioner in architecture and engineering consultancy.
Her work lies at the intersection of theory, empirical research, and public-sector practice. She is specialized in research on human factors in light and lighting. Her research is grounded in the domain environmental psychology and informed by urban sociology, public life studies, public space theory, and lighting research.
She applies a socio-physical perspective and design-oriented research methods to examine how lighting, spatial configuration, and environmental cues shape mobility, everyday use, and social practices in urban public space.
Adopting mixed-methods approach and a socio-physical conceptual framework, she conducts field-based interventions in collaboration with municipalities and local actors. Her research aims to advanced the understanding of socially sustainable public spaces, with particular attention to inclusion, social interaction, sense of belonging, and quality of life.
Drawing on senior professional experience in people leadership, project management, and creative design processes within the built environment, she brings strong communication skills together with analytic, conceptual and strategic thinking. Building on her doctoral work and professional foundation, she aims to further develop the socio-physical perspective and advance design-oriented methodologies, exploring how knowledge from local-scale interventions may inform multi-level urban transformation strategies contributing to a sustainable future.