Sophie Buhnik

Sophie Buhnik is a researcher at the Institut Français de Recherche sur le Japon (French Institute for Research on Japan) at the Maison Franco-Japonaise de Tokyo, a French overseas joint research unit (UMIFRE 19) under the dual auspices of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French ministry for Europe and foreign affairs.

She previously worked in France for DATAR (Délégation Interministérielle à l’Aménagement du Territoire et à l’Attractivité Régionale – Interministerial Delegation for Land Planning and Regional Attractiveness) and its successor body, the CGET (Commissariat Général à l’Égalité des Territoires – General Commission for Territorial Equality), before completing a PhD thesis on urban degrowth in Japan at CRIA (Centre de Recherche sur les Réseaux, l’Industrie et l’Aménagement – Center for Research into Networks, Industry and Planning) within the Géographie-cités joint research unit (UMR CNRS 8504).

Her research focuses on residential mobility and revitalization policies for periurban areas in decline in Japan, in comparison with operations undertaken in France, in particular within the framework of the “Action Cœur de Ville” program to boost medium-sized urban areas.