Bertil Vilhelmson

• PhD
• Professor at University of Gothenburg

We investigate whether office workers will continue to work from home after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Office workers at Swedish public agencies were surveyed concerning the pre-pandemic experience of work from home, current practices, and willingness to continue work from home post-pandemic. Results indicate that willingness increased greatly...

Background Understanding how older adults spend time in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) is crucial to understanding healthy ageing. This study connects 24-h time-use diary records of the daily activities of a sample of Swedish older adults to energy intensities. The aim was to: i) estimate the prevalence of Swedish older ad...

We explore changes in everyday togetherness among upcoming cohorts of older people by examining their shared time use during the day. Theoretically, we elaborate on the existential condition of being co-present with others when performing activities.We compare cohorts using data from Swedish time-use surveys conducted in 2000/2001 and 2010/2011. R...

Although proximity by densification is a leading strategy to promote sustainable mobility, knowledge of the gendered and situated use of proximity is scarce. This study explores how women and men use nearby amenities in urban environments varying in amenity concentration. We use survey data from cities in western Sweden to analyse how amenity densi...

enWe explore to what extent ageing is associated with increased active time spent in natural environments. We anticipate this pattern, aligned with active ageing theory, as greater exposure to nature is associated with better health and well-being, including in old age. Following cohorts of elderly people over time using daily time-use survey data...

We examine how mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) and mediated interaction transform daily work activity in contemporary, extended telework. We expand on the concepts of mediated bundles and pacesetters to understand how the rhythms and employee control of work activity change. We draw on in‐depth interviews with 22 teleworker...

The time older people spend on various daily activities is critical for their health and well-being. New generations of older adults are increasingly expected to participate in ‘active’ activities. We explore shifts in active time use among upcoming cohorts of older people in Sweden. Recognizing the diverging meanings associated with the active age...

We evaluate changes in proximity (in terms of walkability) to essential services in the city region of Gothenburg, Sweden, 1994–2014, when sustainability policy goals were set to promote urban densification and non-motorized mobility. Simultaneously, public services were deregulated, reducing political capacity to control their accessibility. Consi...

How cities can become more conducive to sustainable travel patterns is a pressing matter in urban research. In the built environment–travel literature, several features potentially promoting sustainable mobility remain under-researched. One concerns the precise role of local accessibility – in terms of the number, variety and specific types of amen...

This article contributes to the geographical understanding of how mobile online presence enabled by smartphones transforms human spatial practices; that is, people’s everyday routines and experiences in time and space. Contrasting a mainstream discourse concentrating on the autonomy and flexibility of ubiquitous (anywhere, anytime) use of social me...

This study explores how changing conditions for home-based telework affect the quality of life and social sustainability of workers in terms of time pressure and time use control in everyday life. Changing conditions concern the spread of telework to new types of jobs of a more routine character, involving new practices of unregulated work and anyt...

Denna rapport är en praktikerorienterad slutrapport från forskningsprojektet ”Mot en hållbar urban och regional tillgänglighet”. Projektets och rapportens syfte är att utveckla begreppet hållbar tillgänglighet och göra det användbart i den urbana och regionala planeringen. Utgångspunkten är att det behövs nya metoder och verktyg för att definiera,...

This chapter presents work performed in the workshop of the Region Västra Götaland case study within the COST Action TU1002 on Accessibility Instruments in Planning Practice. A four-stage model of experiential workshop design was applied with the aim to evaluate the usability of a locally developed accessibility instrument. The participants found t...

From a joint temporal and socio-spatial perspective, we examine how young people’s everyday lives integrate with the use of digital media. Conceptually, we complement a standard displacement approach by advancing the role of time-space priorities, time elasticities, and online/offline intersections. We use micro-level data concerning youth aged 15–...

In striving for sustainability, urban policy and planning increasingly emphasize proximity ideals in order to go beyond established mobility- and speed-oriented accessibility strategies. Yet proximity is a fluid concept with many contextualized meanings, cutting across most sectors of urban planning. When proximity is realized in actual planning, c...

This chapter complements the time-geographic understanding of parallel activities and the implications of the background use of mobile digital media. We examine the incorporation of smart mobile technologies into people’s daily lives in the form of both background and foreground activities. Relying on an in-depth study of young people’s use of smar...

It is generally recognized that technological fixes alone cannot solve car-induced sustainability problems requiring measures to reduce car use. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning what we can learn from the experience of people who voluntarily refrain from car ownership. This paper aims to explore how everyday life is organized and percei...

Current urban planning for sustainability is gradually shifting from car-based to proximity ideals. However, when concretized in regular planning thinking and practice, the latter ideal becomes contested and complex. This paper explores sustainable accessibility and how urban planners understand, seek to operationalize, and integrate the concept in...

The Internet facilitates new practices of social interaction at a distance, enabling online copresence and potentially relaxing social constraints on geographical mobility. Conceptualizing the role of online co-presence, we examine whether and how Internet-based social contacts influence young people's pre-migration considerations and decision maki...

Comparing the daily time use of three consecutive cohorts of Swedish young adults 20–29 years old, we analyse changes in free-time activity patterns over a period when private Information and Communications Technology (ICT) use was introduced, expanded, and went online. We use Swedish Time Use Survey (TUS) data from 1990/1991, 2000/2001 and 2010/20...

This paper operationalizes the concept of sustainable accessibility by emphasizing the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability from a spatial perspective. In doing so, we develop a heuristic model that focusses on the crucial dimensions of who gets access to what by using sustainable means of movement. We apply our conceptual approach...

We explore from a time-use perspective how private use of computers and the Internet [information and communications technologies (ICTs)] is transforming everyday life. Data from the Swedish 2010–2011 Time-Use Survey reflect a situation in which Internet use has spread widely and become routine for many. Using covariate analysis, we analyse differe...

This study investigates the increased adoption of telework in Sweden between 2005 and 2012. It uses microlevel data from national surveys in order to ask where telework is being adopted and by whom. Results indicate that telework has become routine for over 20 per cent of all gainfully employed. Expansion is explained by a working life in transitio...

The need for a change of living environment is an often-expressed motive in surveys of migrants–in addition to better-defined social, educational, and economic reasons. Studies also suggest that environmental motives have become more frequent and influential over time. While ticking the ‘change of environment’ box of a questionnaire is easy, the un...

This paper contributes to the understanding of non-local migration in the digital age by investigating emerging virtual practices in the migration process. We focus on the initial inspiration phase that theoretically defines the attainable reach of individuals considering moving. Using a case-based approach, we distinguish how online information an...

This chapter explores long-term trends and potential trend conversions in the development of human spatial mobility, with special focus on the Swedish population. Consistent with observations of ‘peak car use’ reported from other countries, we find that the growth in everyday mobility has recently stagnated and declined. Mobility trends differ sign...

The paper develops our understanding of how the Internet is integrated into migration processes and influences plans and decisions to move, drawing on in-depth interviews with urban young adults planning to move. Our analysis is based on people's own experiences and perceptions, focusing on the pre-migrant phase of interregional migration. Theoreti...

Congestion charging is widely considered an effective policy measure to regulate and reduce car traffic demand and associated environmental and health problems in cities. However, introducing restrictive measures to constrain individual choice and behaviour for the common good has often proven difficult. Using a specific case, the Gothenburg conges...

The Internet offers personalized and constantly updated information about opportunities and facilities at places far away. It stimulates distant personal contact and interaction via social media. Attention is thus increasingly being paid to the relationships between Internet use and traditional, physical forms of spatial interaction and movement. T...

The Internet offers personalized and constantly updated information about opportunities and facilities at places far away. It stimulates distant personal contact and interaction via social media. Attention is thus increasingly being paid to the relationships between Internet use and traditional, physical forms of spatial interaction and movement. T...

This research explores and adds to the literature concerning the relationship between spatial structure and travel behaviour; specifically, the relationship between local and regional accessibility to service amenities and the distance of service-related trips. The analysis is based on a unique combination of national travel survey data for Sweden...

A time-geographic approach, including time–space diaries and in-depth interviews, is used to investigate the daily use and implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among a group of Swedish urban youth. We identify individual variations and nuances in ICT-based practices in our respondents’ social and spatial contexts. Using...

This paper explores whether gender-based commuting gaps change in Sweden in times when policies at various levels seek to promote both spatially extended labour markets and gender equality. We use Swedish national travel survey data from 1994–1995 and 2005–2006 to explore inequality in terms of distance, time use, speed, and car use. Special attent...

Drawing on a combination of register data and travel survey data, this research explores changes in the accessibility to different amenities for the Swedish population between 1995 and 2005, as well as the reasons behind the changes: redistribution of either amenities or the population. Overall, proximity has increased concerning most of the amenit...

People´s capacity to perform various activities (as regards work, social communication, information, services and entertainment) while on the move is rapidly changing. The spread of mobile ICTs (laptop computers, cell phones, mp3-devices, wireless broadband and internet access etc.) combined with an ongoing ‘virtualisation’ of many everyday activit...

This study explores mainstream trends and countertrends in the development of spatial mobility in the Swedish population. Tracing incipient change in travel behaviour is important for understanding the preconditions for social and environmental sustainability. We use data from the Swedish national travel surveys, conducted intermittently over almos...

Many countries are facing population aging as a consequence of decreased fertility, lower mortality rates and increased longevity. Successful aging is characterised by good health at high ages with no or very few disabilities, personal contentedness, active participation in society and in meaningful activities. A significant portion of the total nu...

Emma sits alone in her home. It is Sunday afternoon, and she has some leisure time to spend before the night. What to do? Read a book or watch a movie? After some thought, she decides to see a film. How to proceed, then? Take the local bus to the cinema downtown, take a short walk to the local video shop and rent a movie, or simply stay at home and...

This article presents a geographical perspective on the concept of sustainable mobility. Meeting the challenge of sustainable mobility is a complex matter of promoting sustainable transportation technologies, influencing people’s travel behaviour and transforming society’s social and spatial structures. Arguably, a geographical perspective focuses...

The virtual access offered by information and communications technology (ICT) has entered homes to an unprecedented degree - with disputed socio-spatial consequences. This paper explores whether people's use of time and space has changed with increasing access to ICT, and it considers the role of the home and the displacement of mobile and stationa...

Rapporten undersöker hur människors användning av tid för att resa och kommunicera omvandlas under ett drygt decennium fram till 2005 . Analysen sker mot bakgrund av människors ökade användning av informations- och kommunikationsteknik i kontakterna med omvärlden. Vi uppmärksammar särskilt hur relationerna mellan olika rörlighetsformer förändras sa...

This article explores how young people’s everyday patterns of social communication are affected by the increased use of mobile phones. We discuss three areas in which there are potential implications: (i) contact patterns and face-to-face interaction; (ii) other forms of spatial mobility; and (iii) individual planning and use of time. Empirically,...

What adaptive potentials exist in the short and medium term if mobility has to be reduced? This chapter examines how tied people’s activity patterns and the socio-spatial organization of modern society has become to high levels of mobility. It elaborates on four intertwined aspects of mobility dependence and adaptation: (i) time and time use, (ii)...

Since the early 1990s an entirely new activity has entered the daily life of many households -the use of computers for on-line and off-line activities. It is anticipated that the resulting increased virtual mobility will have far-reaching consequences in terms of where, when, and how people use time and place for various activities. This paper expl...

This study explores how urban youth fit the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) into their everyday lives. Their virtual mobility may be lasting and have long-term effects on activity patterns and socio-spatial structures. We focus on the types of activities that become ICT based, and whether the extended networks fostered by vi...

Rörlighetens omvandling är en bok om människors accelererande förmåga att överbrygga geografiska avstånd. Vi analyserar aktuella förändringstendenser som omdanar samhället och våra liv. Det handlar om det ökande beroendet av snabba transporter i vardagslivet, transnationaliseringen av aktivitetsmönster, virtualiseringen av kontakterna med omgivning...

This paper examines the long-term changes of travel patterns in urbanized and semi-urbanized areas of Sweden. Travel survey data reveal a connection between built-up area size/density and distance travelled. This relation is not linear. People living within the medium-sized towns travel the least daily distance. This is not congruent with the idea...

evaluating the effectiveness––as well as the interrelated sociospatial consequences––of travel demand management (TDM) measures is determining how their implementation changes the travel options faced by households in different segments. Geocoded travel diary data from Gothenburg, Sweden, are analysed with the aim of determining the number and type...

Discourse on the information society currently highlights issues of networks, flows and mobilities as prime organisers and re-organisers of time–space relationships. Such discourse promotes notions of the flexible use of time and space, of people’s decoupling from place and even of the end of geography – the belief that distance does not matter. Ye...

Mobility is a key concept within recent social theorising on globalisation, transnationalisation of social relations, and new divisions of society. Mobility growth is also central to issues of global warming and the need for sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to elucidate empirically some properties of recent developments in internat...

A conceptual framework is presented that may be utilized when analyzing changes in household travel arising from the range of potential measures available to policy makers. The proposed framework draws on goal setting theory in order to understand how travel is influenced by the impact various travel demand management (TDM) measures have on time, c...

Information and communication technologies (ICT) may increase people's freedom to decide when, where, and how they wish to work and travel.With the aid of data from national surveys on the use of ICT by the Swedish population, our objective is to investigate the overall spread of ICT- based modes of work such as telework, mobile work, and teleconfe...

The purpose of this article is to give a comprehensive description and analysis of the relations between the communicative use of information technologies (ICT) on the one hand and physical travel on the other. Work-related activities, such as telework (telecommuting) and teleconferences, are especially considered. The extent to which they affect p...

Without Abstract

An operational model of household activity scheduling is proposed. The model is based on a theory entailing behavioral principles of how persons acquire, represent, and use information from and about the environment. Choices of destinations and departure times are consequences of the scheduling of a set of activities to be executed in a given time...

Allt oftare hörs propåer om att vi måste ändra livsstil för att nå en hållbar utveckling i olika avseenden. Innebörden av livsstilsbegreppet är emellertid mångfacetterad. Har vi som kulturgeografer något att bidra med i livsstilsanalysen? I denna artikel diskuteras livsstilsbegreppets geografiska dimensioner, särskilt med avseende på människors dag...