Jan Nijman is Professor of Urban Studies and Geography. He was the Director of the Centre for Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam from 2011-2015. His professional career spans over three decades in the United States and the Netherlands and he has over two decades of research experience in India. His research and teaching reach across the social sciences and humanities, with a disciplinary penchant for geography. His main interests are in urban and regional development, comparative urbanism, and the historical-geographical evolution of cities. He also maintains an interest in geopolitics, the main focus of his earlier studies. Regionally, most of his work is situated in North America, South Asia, and West Europe.
Nijman’s research has been funded by various grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Guggenheim Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). He was a recipient of the Nystrom Award for best doctoral dissertation in Geography in the United States (1991) and the J.B. Jackson book award from the Association of American Geographers (2011). He is a former Guggenheim Fellow.
Jan Nijman is also Founding Director and Distinguished University Professor at the Urban Studies Institute of Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA. He was a member of the Committee for Research & Exploration of the National Geographic Society from 2002-2011 and Chair of the Society’s Global Exploration Fund in Europe, 2011-2016.
Jan Nijman (ed.), Amsterdam’s Canal District: Origins, Evolution, and Future Prospects. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Read more...
Jan Nijman (ed.), The Life of North American Suburbs: Imagined Utopias and Transitional Spaces. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Read more ...
Jan Nijman, M. Shin, P.O. Muller, Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. 18th Edition. New York: Wiley, 2020. Read more ...
Jan Nijman, M. Shin, P.O. Muller The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography. 8th Edition. New York: Wiley, 2020. Read more ...
Scholarly books
J. Nijman (ed.), The Life of North American Suburbs: Imagined Utopias and Transitional Spaces. University of Toronto Press, 2020.
J. Nijman (ed.), Amsterdam’s Canal District: Origins, Evolution, and Future Prospects. University of Toronto Press, 2020.
Text books:
J. Nijman, M. Shin and P.O. Muller, Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. 18th Edition. Wiley, 2020.
J. Nijman, M. Shin and P.O. Muller, The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography. 8th Edition. Wiley, 2020.
Edited special journal issue:
J. Nijman and D. Wei (eds.) (2020). “Urban Inequality: Global Perspectives.” Special guest-edited issue of Applied Geography vol. 115-117.
Journal articles and book chapters
X. Fu and J. Nijman (2021), "Sea level rise, homeownership, and residential real estate markets in South Florida.” The Professional Geographer 73/1: 62-71.
J. Nijman and D. Wei (2020). “Urban inequalities in the 21st century economy.” Applied Geography 117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2020.102188
J. Nijman and D. Wei (2020), “Introduction: Amsterdam’s Canal District in Global Perspective.” In: J. Nijman (ed.), Amsterdam’s Canal District: Origins, Evolution, and Future Prospects. University of Toronto Press, pp. 3-21.
J. Nijman (2020). “Introduction: Elusive suburbia.” In: J. Nijman (ed.), The Life of North American Suburbs. University of Toronto Press, pp. 3-22.
J. Nijman (2020). “Epilogue: Suburbs as transitional spaces.” In: J. Nijman (ed.), The Life of North American Suburbs. University of Toronto Press, pp. 349-362.
J. Nijman and T. Clery (2020). “Rethinking suburbia: A case study of metropolitan Miami.” In: J. Nijman (ed.), The Life of North American Suburbs. University of Toronto Press, pp. 65-87.
J. Nijman (2019). “Urbanization and Economic Development: Comparing the Trajectories of China and United States.” In: R. Forrest, J. Ren, and B. Wissink (eds.), The City in China: Perspectives on Contemporary Urbanism. Polity Press, pp. 101-124.
R. Rothenberg, C. Stauber, D. Dai, and J. Nijman (2019). “Urban health indicators: the role of data disparities.” In: J. Nriagu (ed.), Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, 2nd Edition.
R.J. van Duijne and J. Nijman (2019). “India’s emergent urban formations.” Annals of the AAG 109/7: 1978-1998. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2019.1587285?af=R