Jaana Vanhatalo has worked in Tampere University, in the School of Architecture since October 2010. Her background is in Regional Studies (M.Sc.(Admin)). Her main research interests include urban planning processes and GIS aided planning. She has been in several projects focusing on urbanization, resource efficiency, planning process and methods, and conducting spatial analyses (GIS) in several research and development projects. She also teaches GIS, planning and writing for the architecture students.

Vanhatalo’s dissertation addresses delineation of urban areas. She is interested how well the national urban area definitions function in their task, i.e. defining urban areas.