The material world within human reach is altered not by words but by the grasp of the hand. The word-makers are in power, but for their decisions to turn into something more than vibrations in the air, one, some or all people must engage with material things. (Hägerstrand 2009: 27, my translation)

Time-geography is a mode of thinking that helps in the understanding of change in society, the wider context and ecological consequences of human actions. This book presents its assumptions, concepts and methods, and example applications.

The intellectual path of the Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand is a key foundation for this book. His research contributions are shown in the context of the urbanization of Sweden, involvement in the emerging planning sector and empirical studies on Swedish emigration. Migration and innovation diffusion studies paved the way for prioritizing time and space dimensions and recognizing time and space as unity. From these insights time-geography grew. This book includes the ontological grounds and concepts as well as the specific notation system of time-geography – a visual language for interdisciplinary research and communication. Applications are divided into themes: urban and regional planning; transportation and communication; organization of production and work; everyday life, wellbeing and household division of labor; and ecological sustainability – time-geographic studies on resource use.

This book looks at the outlook for this developing branch of research and the future application of time-geography to societal and academic contexts. Its interdisciplinary nature will be appealing to postgraduates and researchers who are interested in human geography, urban and regional planning and sociology.

Time-geography is a mode of thinking that helps us understand change processes in society, the wider context and the ecological consequences of human actions. This book brings together international time-geographic research from a range of disciplines. 　

Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand is a key foundation for this book, and an introductory biography charts the influences that led to the formation of his theories. A central theme across time-geography research is recognizing time and space as unity. Contributions from the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, China, Norway and Sweden showcase the diverse palette of time-geography research. Chapters study societies adjusting to rapid urbanization, or investigate the need for structural changes in childcare organization. The book also delves into green transportation and the interplay between humans and nature in landscape transformation. Applicational chapters look at ICT effects on young people’s daily life and methods for engaging clients in treatment practice.

This book situates the outlook for this developing branch of research and the application of time-geography to societal and academic contexts. Its interdisciplinary nature will appeal to postgraduates and researchers who are interested in human geography, urban and regional planning and sociology.

This article claims that the contents of energy conservation information policy instruments must be better adapted to household members’ everyday life experiences in order to capture their interest and transform information into action. The article elaborates on how to ground energy policy information in the everyday doings and strivings of households. Using two time-geographical concepts, i.e. activity and project, we investigate how people understand and define their energy-related activities as parts of overarching everyday projects with a focus on the constraints on energy conservation. The analysis is empirically based on interview data from a case study of households’ use of renewable heating technologies. The results illustrate how peoples’ heating activities are related to everyday projects such as reducing environmental impact, comfort for a convenient daily life, the household budget balance, learning about and/or maintaining home technologies and hobbies. One conclusion is that information instruments focusing solely on one or two such projects might hamper the translation from information to action and also limit the number of people interested in or able to access the information. Another conclusion is that the growing use of energy-efficient technologies might influence new habits and perceptions of the everyday use of energy, making common economic motives for saving energy less useful. Anchoring energy-related information and support in the everyday activities and projects of households would facilitate the translation process. If this is achieved, information could prove a useful instrument in the broader reorganization of societal institutions in a sustainable direction.

The teacher profession has certain conditions when it comes to time use. On the one hand, teaching is normally strictly scheduled during the day and week. Increasingly, at least in the Swedish context, also other duties are scheduled, like formal meetings and planning with colleagues. On the other hand, there is still a high degree of freedom when it comes to teachers’ use – in time and space – of the rest of the working hours. What is teachers’ everyday life like in a week perspective?

In this paper we analyse and visualize the activity rhythm of teachers in compulsory school and non-formal adult education in the folk high school. The analysis is based on two data sets with similarities and differences. 3626 compulsory-school teachers filled in a one-day time diary each, on one of the weekdays Monday–Friday. 94 folk high school teachers filled in seven time diaries each, during a week Monday-Sunday. As data on compulsory-school teachers’ weekends are lacking, the focus will be activity patterns during weekdays, Monday–Friday.

We use the data for an analysis based on basic time-geographic concepts (activities, projects and constraints) and methods (visualizations). We also discuss weaknesses and strengths of the whole week data collection and the one-day diaries, and the consequences of these different approaches for the analysis. E.g., the work rhythm of the week, in this paper focussing on the weekdays, can be identified on an individual level for the folk high school teachers, and the interweaving of work and private activities can be revealed in a week perspective. For the compulsory-school teachers, the data based on one-day diaries from different individuals mean that the rhythm of the week can be identified at aggregated level and day by day only, while the important day-to-day sequential flow of activities is lost.

The results will show similarities and differences between teachers work in compulsory school and folk high school when it comes to the interweaving of teaching, planning, and administrative work-activities, and of work and private life. The influence of the schedule will also be identified in relation to time for breaks and recovery during the day.

Många viktiga frågor söker svar. Servicerobotar ska sköta människor – men vad är värdigt och socialt önskvärt att robotisera inom servicesektorn? Vad händer med det sociala samspelet? Servicerobotar, likaväl som robotarna i karossfabriken, måste underhållas och skötas om. Att sköta robotar för att de ska fungera innebär nya och annorlunda arbeten inom servicesektorn – men vad händer med de befintliga servicejobben? Var finns de kreativa, socialt orienterade och samarbetsskickliga aktörer som svarar på dessa frågor i samhällets ”servicerobotiseringsprocess”?

The teacher profession has certain conditions when it comes to time use. On the one hand, teaching is normally scheduled during the day and week. Increasingly, at least in the Swedish context, also other duties are scheduled, like staff meetings and planning with colleagues. On the other hand, there is still a high degree of freedom when it comes to teachers’ use – in time and space – of the rest of the working hours. What is folk high school teachers’ everyday life like in a week perspective?

In this paper we analyse and visualize the activity rhythm of teachers in non-formal adult education in the Swedish folk high school. The analysis is based on 658 time diaries, from 94 folk high school teachers who filled in seven time diaries each, during a full week Monday-Sunday.

We use the data for an analysis based on basic time-geographic concepts (activities, projects and constraints) and methods (visualizations). E.g., the work rhythm of the week, the day-to-day sequential flow of activities including the weekend, can be identified on an individual level for these folk high school teachers, and the interweaving of work and private activities can be revealed in a week perspective.

The results show structural patterns in the interweaving of teaching, planning, and administrative work-activities, and of work and private life. The influence of the schedule will also be identified in relation to time for breaks and recovery during the day.