Hägerstrand, Torsten (1916–2004)

Torsten Hägerstrand was a Swedish geographer who made enormous contributions to human geography. The work that initially established his international reputation and his place as one of the most renowned human geographers of the 20th century concerned the study of population movements over time, the diffusion of innovations, and the behavior of individuals in space and time. Innovation indeed well describes his role in geography, in perhaps four ways: first, the introduction (at least to geography) of the idea of spatial and space-time processes, that geographic development over time could be understood and modeled; second, the particular process of spatial diffusion; third, the technique of Monte Carlo simulation; and fourth, the idea that individual behavior, not just that of large groups, could be modeled temporally ...