Hägerstrand Lab

The Hägerstrand Lab is a research environment at the Department of Human Geography where computational approaches are developed, discussed, and put into practice. It brings together researchers, students, data, code, and infrastructure in one shared space.

The lab supports work across human geography and computational social science — from spatial data analysis and machine learning to visualization, simulation, and digital mapping. Some projects are highly technical, others more exploratory. What matters is a willingness to work computationally with geographical questions.

The lab does not follow a narrow definition of what "computational" should mean. Different methods, tools, and traditions coexist here: programming, GIS, statistics, visualization, modeling, qualitative–quantitative work, and experimental forms of inquiry.

Rather than enforcing a single approach, the lab is intended as a place where people with different competences can encounter each other's work, exchange ideas, and collaborate across boundaries.

The lab is named after Torsten Hägerstrand, whose work at Lund University reshaped human geography through ideas about space, time, mobility, and everyday life. His time-geography described how human activity unfolds through paths, constraints, and interactions across space and time.

Many of those ideas now intersect naturally with contemporary computational methods: mobility data, spatial simulation, agent-based models, and large-scale geographical analysis. The name reflects both an intellectual inheritance and a continuing curiosity about how computational methods can deepen geographical understanding.

At its core, the lab brings together people with computational competences and an interest in them. That central purpose radiates outward into several interconnected activities:

Fika, projects, and an opportunity space.

The inauguration marked the opening of the Hägerstrand Lab as a new research environment within the Department of Human Geography, with support and recognition from both the department and the Faculty of Social Sciences. The afternoon brought together colleagues and guests for conversation, fika, and a series of welcoming speeches. Henrik Gutzon Larsen reflected on the intellectual legacy of Torsten Hägerstrand and its continued relevance for contemporary geographical research, alongside welcoming words by Ola Hall, Markus Grillitsch, and Philipp Stark.

When5 May 2026, 3 pm WhereRoom 42, KEG · Geocentrum I FormatTalks · fika · conversation

Read the invitation (PDF) →

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