Arnór Elvarsson

Lecturer / Adjunct professor

ETH Zürich / Bifröst University

Biography

I research decision-making within infrastructure planning organisations, specifically related to the efficiency and effectiveness of their infrastructure planning processes. In my research I embrace digital tools to provide decision support for planning decisions made 10-30 years before infrastructure completion. At this point in time, decisions are made considering a high degree of future uncertainty. The research contributes analysis of organisational processes, governance structure and novel tools to make robust planning decisions bearing in mind uncertain land-use transport interactions.

Interests

Infrastructure planning
Appraising costs and benefits
Decision-making under uncertainty

Education

PhD Civil Engineering - Infrastructure Planning, 2026

ETH Zürich
MSc Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems, 2018

ETH Zürich
BSc Environmental and Civil Engineering, 2014

University of Iceland

Experience

Adjunct Professor

Bifröst University

September 2025 – Present Bifröst, IS / Zurich, CH

Responsibilities include:

Research performance of infrastructure management organisations
Teaching Decision-making and modeling to students of Finance Management and Project Management
Supervising students

Lecturer and Researcher

ETH Zurich

January 2021 – Present Zurich, CH

Responsibilities include:

Research responsiveness in infrastructure planning and communicate results
Teaching courses: Developing, managing, lecturing courses and assisting students
Supervising students: Bachelor and Master theses and other Master projects

Project Engineer

Infrastructure Management Consultants

November 2018 – December 2020 Zurich, CH

Managed projects related to Infrastructure maintenance management (e.g., road pavement decision support tool prototyping) and Information management (e.g., databases and BIM)

Specialist

EFLA Engineers

June 2014 – August 2015 Reykjavik, IS

Supported on projects related to transport infrastructure design, planning and maintenance

Projects

Process optimisation in rail system development

System operators responsible for implementing system developments based on innovative technologies to improve operational efficiency, must adhere to safety requirements for scalable and well-documented solutions to acquire regulatory approval. This requires consideration of multiple stakeholders and a highly complex conceptualisation process guaranteeing railway system safety. Any changes to the interdependent documentation to ensure ongoing compliance with safety requirements would be necessary triggering cascading effects throughout the entire project, potentially increasing costs and delaying development, ultimately slowing down innovation within the railway system.

Optimising construction processes for prefabricated renovation

RENOMIZE is an EU Horizon Europe project lead by Joanneum Research with 16 consortium members joining forces to leverage know-how and engineering innovations for more sustainable and efficient building renovation processes.

Adaptive Mobility Infrastructure and Land-use

Our module focuses on conducting cutting-edge studies and can be summarised into three pillars - (a) Transforming and forecasting city-wide mobility patterns, (b) Decision-making and planning processes for transport infrastructure in the face of uncertainties, and (c) Sustainable and interactive land-use planning.

Responsiveness of infrastructure planning - Embracing adaptive planning methods to meet societal needs

This research (1) maps the planning process of transport infrastructure, (2) identifies the potential of adaptive planning methods in planning practice, (3) develops state-of-the-art tools to plan regional infrastructure development considering future uncertainties

Wider-impacts of future mobility

This research explores the wider social and economical impacts of automated connected transportation through Scenario Development & Evaluation

Featured Publications

Arnór Elvarsson, David Zani, Bryan T. Adey

January, 2026 Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research , 7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmr.2025.100103

Fast-lane for planning cycling infrastructure: On the effectiveness and efficiency of cycling infrastructure planning processes

Timely development of cycling infrastructure is essential to achieving societal goals such as decarbonisation and cyclist traffic safety. However, delays in infrastructure project completion persist across many planning contexts, partly due to the infrastructure planning processes. This paper addresses the lack of academic research on infrastructure planning process improvement, specifically for cycling infrastructure, by applying a structured, three-step methodology—process mapping, process analysis and improvement proposal—to the case of Canton Zürich, Switzerland.

Recent Publications

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Arnór Elvarsson, David Zani, Bryan T. Adey (2026). Fast-lane for planning cycling infrastructure: On the effectiveness and efficiency of cycling infrastructure planning processes. Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research , 7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmr.2025.100103.

Slides DOI

Arnór Elvarsson, Bryan T. Adey, David Kaufmann (2026). On the responsiveness of infrastructure processes: from identifying needs to delivery. Infrastructure Asset Management , 13 (1), pp. 35 – 49, https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.23.00034.

DOI

Arnór Elvarsson, Bryan T. Adey (2025). Mapping the Swiss Road and Rail Infrastructure Planning Process and Identifying Potential Areas for Improvement. Journal of Infrastructure Systems , 31 (4), https://doi.org/10.1061/JITSE4.ISENG-2763.

DOI

Arnór Elvarsson, Fabrice Marggi, Bryan T. Adey (2024). A methodology to identify and assess transport infrastructure development considering land-use uncertainty. Conference paper presented at 24th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC 2024), Ascona, Switzerland, May 15-17, 2024; Conference lecture on May 15, 2024. , https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000672982.

Slides DOI

Fabrice Marggi, Arnór Elvarsson, Bryan T. Adey (2024). Implementing early-stage highway planning support in Dübendorf-Hinwil considering uncertain land-use and mobility demand. Conference paper presented at 24th Swiss Transport Research Conference (STRC 2024), Ascona, Switzerland, May 15-17, 2024; Conference lecture on May 15, 2024. , https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000672985.

Slides DOI

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