Stockholms universitet

Anders WästfeltProfessor

Om mig

Professor of Human geography

 

Research interests

My research concerns the agricultural landscape and the re-valuation of agriculture in society. A central question is which mechanisms are driving change in the organization of agriculture when farming becomes globally integrated. To study the complexity of this question an agricultral historical perspective coupled with a landscape geographical perspective is useful. Theoretically I am interested in classical agricultural economics, relational conceptualisations of space as well as scale and distance issues. Image analysis, especially remote sensing analysis of agricultural landscapes are of a special interest. I have also an interst in temporalities and landscape heritage. Recently have I started a collaboration with the Nordic Museum, concerning agriculture museums and common forests.  

Forskning

 

Currently on-going projects

PLUS Change: Participatory Land Use Strategies: Meeting biodiversity, climate and social objectives in a changing world. EU Horizon 

Agro-verifikat - a verification tool for carbon farming. Vinnova

CROSSLAND. A new cross-disciplinary framework for studying the landscape over the long term. Erasmus+ 

 

PUBLICATIONS

Working papers

Wästfelt, A. Last Harvest. Geographical perspectives on the future of global agriculture.

Wästfelt, A. Futures agricultural environment.

Jansson, U & Wästfelt, A.  From the Crimean war to the Rio-conference: Local agricultural regimes in Western Sweden, 1811-2011. 

Wästfelt, A. Jansson, U. Re-claiming farming for the futures co-evolution of biodiversity production and agriculture. 

Jupiter, K & Wästfelt, AFunction and spatiality; adaptation in open field farming

Wästfelt, AArchipelago geography - A multicentred landscape concept.   

 

In review

Primdahl, J. et.al. Re-coupling agricultural and rural development – towards new governance approaches to agricultural landscapes. Journal of rural studies. 

 

Publications 

 

2022 

Ma, L. Zhang, Q. Wästfelt, A. Wang, S. (In Press) Understanding the spatiality of the rural poor's livelihoods in Northeast China:geographical context, location and urban hierarchy. Applied Geography. 

Karsvall, O. Jupiter, K. Wästfelt, A. (In press) Fenced open-fields in mixed-farming systems: Spatial organisation and cooperation in southern Sweden during the seventeenth century.  Journal of Historical Geography. 

Ferrara, V., Ekblom, A., & Wästfelt, A. (2022). 7 From landscape as heritage to biocultural heritage in a landscape. Landscape as Heritage: International Critical Perspectives.

Ma, L., Wang, S., & Wästfelt, A. 2022. The Poverty of Farmers in a Main Grain-Producing Area in Northeast China. Land, 11(5), 594.

Wästfelt, A. Zhang, Q. 2022. Land without value? Unlocking the zero-lease puzzle in Swedish agricultural transformation. Geography Research Forum

Wästfelt, A. 2022. Swedish agriculture in a changing world 1972–2022. In Living from nature – development and change since the Stockholm Conference in 1972. Swedish FAO Committee, Publication Series 15 ISSN: 1652-9316.

 

2021

Ferrara, V. Wästfelt, A. 2021. Unpacking Layers of Space-Time Complexity in Land-Use Dynamics. A Case Study from the Olive Agrosystems of Sicily (Italy). GI Forum. 

Wästfelt, A. 2021. Landscape as filter - farm adaptation to changing contexts. Journal of Land Use Science, 1-17. 

Wästfelt, A. 2021. Nordiska museets gårdar. Diva

2020

Qviström, M., & Wästfelt, A. 2020. In search of the landscape theory of Torsten Hägerstrand. Landscape research.

Ferrara, V. Ekblom, A. Wästfelt, A. 2020 Biocultural Heritage in Sicilian Olive Groves; The Importance of Heterogeneous Landscapes over the Long Term.

2019

Wästfelt, A. 2019. Ambiguous use of geographical information systems for the rectification of large-scale geometric maps. The Cartographic Journal.

Wästfelt, A. 2019. Sveriges jordbrukslandskap i ett europeiskt sammanhang – en kort introduktion. Landskap – ett vidsträckt begrepp – KSLAT nr 5-2019. Ed. Ihse, M.  

Wästfelt, A. 2019. Ungkarlsfenomenet - eller hur tid och tidpunkt spelar skilda roller i olika tider vid förvandling av jordbrukslandskap. Bebyggelsehistoriskt tidskrift nr 77. 

2018

Wästfelt, A. Zhang, Q. 2018. Keeping agriculture alive next to the city – The functions of the land tenure regime nearby Gothenburg, Sweden. Land use policy. 
Vol 78, pp 447-459. (https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XPRRyDvM44Kw)

Guiomar, N. et al. 2018. Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: towards a better picture. Land Use Policy

Wästfelt, A. 2018. Shifts in agriculture praxis- Farm modernisation and global integration,  Routledge Handbook of Landscape and Food. Ed Zeunert J & Waterman T. Routledge

2017

Wästfelt, A. Eriksson, C. 2017. Det svenska lantbrukets omvandling 1990-2014: Exemplet Uppsala län. SLU Uppsala.

EGA Olsson, E Kerselaers, L Søderkvist Kristensen, J Primdahl, E Rogge,  A Wästfelt. 2017. Peri-Urban Food Production and Its Relation to Urban Resilience Sustainability 8 (12), 1340

2016

Wästfelt, A. Zhang, Q. 2016. Reclaiming localisation in agriculture change: A case study of peri-urban agriculture in Gothenburg, Sweden. Journal of Rural Studies, Volume 47, pages 172-185.

Kuns, B. Visser, O. Wästfelt, A. 2016. The stock market and the steppe: The challenges faced by stock-market financed, Nordic farming ventures in Russia and Ukraine, Journal of Rural Studies, Volume 45, Pages 199-217,

2015

Wästfelt, A. 2015. Re-claiming position: Using local context to visualise interpretations of satellite images in humanities and social science. Journal of art history

Wästfelt, A. 2015. Bonden & framtiden. Byggnadskultur 2.15.

Olsson, A, G. Brukmeier, K, Wästfelt, A. 2015. Pheri-urban agriculture transformations on Gothenburg, Sweden. Case-study report. RETHINK. Rethinking the links between farm modersnisation, rural development and resilience in a word of increasing demands and finite resources.

2014

Wästfelt, A. (red). 2014. Att bruka men inte äga. Arrende och annan nyttjanderätt till mark i svenskt jordbruk från medeltid till idag. Skogs- och lantbrukshistoriska meddelanden nr 61. Kungliga Skogs och Lantbruksakademien. Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien

Wästfelt, A (red). 2014. Begagnade landskap. Riksantikvarieämbetet.

Wästfelt, A. 2014. Begagnade landskap (Inledning). Wästfelt, A (red). Begagnade landskap. Riksantikvarieämbetet.

Wästfelt, A. 2014. Landskapets historiska värden i framtidens landskapsvård - sociala och ekologiska effekter av bildandet av Söne mad betesförening. Wästfelt, A (red). Begagnade landskap. Riksantikvarieämbetet.

Wästfelt, A. 2014. Arrende och annan nyttjanderätt till mark i lantbrukets historia (Forskningsöversikt) Wästfelt, A (red). Att bruka men inte äga. Arrende och annan nyttjanderätt till mark i svenskt jordbruk från medeltid till idag. Skogs- och lantbrukshistoriska meddelanden nr 61 Kungliga Skogs och Lantbruksakademien. Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien.

Wästfelt, A. 2014. Arrendefrågan 1972 till 2010 – två intresseorganisationers perspektiv. Wästfelt, A (red). 2014. Att bruka men inte äga. Arrende och annan nyttjanderätt till mark i svenskt jordbruk från medeltid till idag. Skogs- och lantbrukshistoriska meddelanden nr 61. Kungliga Skogs och Lantbruksakademien. Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien.

Wästfelt, A. 2014. Nollarrenden - om samtida värdering av jordbruksmark och landskap. Wästfelt, A (red). 2014. Att bruka men inte äga. Arrende och annan nyttjanderätt till mark i svenskt jordbruk från medeltid till idag. Skogs- och lantbrukshistoriska meddelanden nr 61. Kungliga Skogs och Lantbruksakademien. Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien.

2013

Wästfelt, A. Arnberg, W. 2013. Local space context measurements used to explore the relationship between land cover and land use function. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.

2012

Wästfelt, A. 2012. Framtidens lantbruk – en teoretisk utmaning. I Westholm, E. Alm, S. Palme, J. Att utforska framtiden. Institutet för framtidsstudier, Dialogos.

Wästfelt, A & Saltzman, K, Gräslund-Berg, E, Dahlberg, A. 2012. Landscape care paradoxes. Swedish landscape care arrangements in a European context. Geoforum.

Wästfelt, A. Tegenu, T. Nielsen, M. Malmberg, B. 2012. Qualitative satellite image analysis: mapping the spatial distribution of farming types in Ethiopia. Applied Geography.

Ahlkvist, O. Wästfelt, A. Nielsen, M. 2012. Formalized interpretation of compound land use objects – Mapping historical summer farms from a single satellite image. Journal of Land use Science. 2012, 1–19.

2011

Eriksson, C & Wästfelt A. 2011. Är landskap enbart en utsikt? Två frågor i och med införandet av den landskapskonventionen i Sverige. BHT nr 61.

Jansson, U., Antonsson, H., Bladh, G., Wästfelt, A., & Germundsson, T. 2011. Den regionala mosaiken. In  (Vol. s. [206]-221). Jordbruk och skogsbruk i sverige sedan år 1900 : en kartografisk beskriving 2011, Stockholm.

 

Older publications, selected. 

Jansson, U. Wästfelt, A. 2010. Rural Landscape Changes from a Long-term Perspective: Farming, Policy, Economy and Society from 1750 to Today. Jansson, U & Hermelin, B. (ed) In Placing Human Geography - Sweden through time and space. Ymer 2010.  Sid 113-141.

Wästfelt, A. 2009. Land-use qualities Identified in Remote-sensed Images International Journal of Remote Sensing. Vol 30 no 9, pp 2411-2427.

Wästfelt, A. 2005. Satellite Images – A source for Social Scientists? On Handling Multiple Conceptualisations of Space in Geographical Information Systems. A.G Cohn & Mark D.M. (Eds.) Spatial Information Theory. COSIT 2005. LNCS 3693, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. pp 379-396.

Angelstam, P. Boresjö-Bronge, L. Mikusinsky,G. Sporrong, U. Wästfelt, A. 2003. Assessing village authenticity with satellite images: A method to identify intact Cultural Landscapes in Europe. In Ambio Special Issue, Remote sensing for the environment. Ambio.

 

CV 

Fellow of Academies

  • The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities 2022-
  • The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry 2015-

 

Education and degrees

  • Professor of Human geography, Stockholm University 2020-
  • Associate Professor (Docent) in Human Geography 2012-2020
  • PhD, Continuous Landscapes in Finite Space. Making sense of satellite images in Social Science. Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University. 2004.
  • Master Thesis Stockholm University 1997
  • Bachelor Degree in Urban and Regional planning. Stockholm University 1993.

 

Postdoctoral positions, work abroad

  • 2015-2016. Fulbright visiting scholar at University California Santa Barbara.
  • 2009-2013 Assistant professor. Section for Agrarian history. Swedish University of Agriculture Science.
  • Stint scholarship Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge Univ, UK vt-03 2003

 

Supervison

Eriksson Camilla (2013) The Summer Farm as a Political Space: Being a Summer Farmer in the Common Agricultural Policy, defended May 24th 2013. SLU department for Rural development. (deputy supervisor).

Malm Charlotta (2013) A place apart? Debating landscapes and identities in the Shetland Islands, defended Dec 12th 2013. Stockholm : Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, 2013. Supervisor in final stage 2013.

Michael Nielsen (2014) Infering Land Use from Remote Sensing Imagery, defended June 11th, 2014. (deputy supervisor).

Brian Kuns (2017) Peasants and Stock Markets, Pathways from Collective Farming in the Post-Soviet Grain-Belt. Defended Oct 27th 2017 (Main supervisor)

Kristofer Jupiter (2020) (Section of Agrarian history, SLU). An efficient farming system – open field systems in 17th century. Defended sept 11 2020 (Main Supervisor).

Li Ma Visiting PhD student 2020-2021 from North East normal Univeristy China. 

 

Ongoing supervision

Johanna Adolfsson, PhD-student in Human geography at SU. A frontier landscape: Judaization of the Naqab. (Main Supervisor).

Oskar Jakobsson PhD-student in Human geography at SU. The sum of all streams - floodplain land use in Southern Sweden 1000-1900 AD. (Main Supervisor).

Vincenza Ferarra PhD-student in Archeology at UU. Long term biocultural heritage in olive growing at Sicily. (deputy supervisor)