About me...
Nice to meet you!
Some basic facts about me:

My name is Marco Bontje.
I was born in 1973 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, a city about 35 km north of Amsterdam. Famous for its cheese market, but there is so much more to see!

I studied Human Geography at the University of Amsterdam from 1991 to 1996.

After graduation I had several short-term jobs, before I started my Ph.D. in urban geography in 1997, at the research institute AME, meanwhile part of AMIDSt, where I am now working as a researcher. Apart from that, I teach courses in geography and planning at the University of Amsterdam, Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies.

I finished my Ph.D in 2001.More info on my Ph.D. research project is available here. From January 2002 until July 2004, I have been living in working in Leipzig thanks to a EU scholarship. After returning in Amsterdam, I started working on the project The Inventive City, which will be completed in 2007. In October 2006 I became involved in the project Accomodating Creative Knowledge (ACRE), an EU-funded project with 13 partner institutes.

I also put a few short articles on the web to give you an impression of my research interests.

Geography is not only my job but also my hobby...so I got involved in several out-of-work activities that have something to do with geography in the last few years, for example organising congresses and workshops for EGEA and ENHR and editorial work for the Dutch geographic journals Geografie (since 2002) and  AGORA (1996-2001).
Other hobbies are travelling, especially in Europe and preferably with my bicycle and/or my hiking shoes; listening to (alternative rock) music (here is a link to my favourite radio station...); reading; swimming; and watching all kinds of sports events, for example supporting my favourite football team AZ Alkmaar!
Nice to meet you !