Disciplines
IBF:s main disciplines are Economics, Geography, Sociology and Political Science, Economic History and Psychology.
The researchers at IBF allocate 20 per cent of their working hours for teaching and supervision at their home department. The remaining 80 per cent is dedicated to research at the institute. IBF also has a continuously staffing of PhD students. All PhD students are employed at IBF, but are enrolled as postgraduate students at the home departments.
Economic History
Economic History study how resources are created, used, and distributed in different societies during various historical periods, as well as how these processes have been discussed and analyzed over time. Economic History examines changes or stagnation in the past.
At IBF, the discipline adds a historical perspective to the institute's research and research questions. It aims to offer a historical understanding of phenomena such as building, urban planning, urbanization, segregation, and housing issues. The research is often locally grounded, but distinctly incorporating a global perspective. It deals with both concrete and material aspects of housing and building, as well as ideas and thoughts, addressing questions around older concepts such as hushållning (“householding”) and newer ones like “tenants”. At its core lies the premise that the very concept of economy has its roots in the Greek term oikos, meaning both "house" and "household."
The research in economic history at IBF is published in high-ranking international journals, books at international publishers and books in Swedish for a wider public audience.
Contact: Göran Rydén
Human Geography
Human geography is the study of how power-laden cultural, political and economic processes both shape and are shaped by the production of spatially-uneven social and physical landscapes.
Human geographers at IBF study the importance of space and place in urban processes in general and housing provision and distribution in particular, ranging across such topics as city planning, housing justice, and urban social movements. Our research focuses on developments both internationally and in Sweden, aiming to understand the relationship between global processes and local worlds, while contributing to policy
work including through collaboration with local and other stakeholders.
Most research carried out by members of this group is published in international journals in geography and in housing and urban studies, although there is also a strong tradition of writing books – both scholarly and more oriented to general audiences – and policy reports.
Contact: Brett Christophers
Economics
Economic research answers fundamental questions on the functioning of the economy, how we make best use of scarce resources, and how economic policy can be designed to
promote desirable and sustainable economic development.
The economists at IBF conduct research on questions related to urban, housing, and real estate economics. Examples of research areas include urbanization processes, city
development, neighborhood effects, migration patterns, segregation, health effects, effects of climate change, and the role of political decision making in local development. The empirically oriented research is largely based on modern micro
econometric methods applied to housing price data and detailed micro-based register data covering the entire Swedish population over a long period. It also includes various
field experiments conducted in close collaboration with external partners such as the Swedish Enforcement Authority, Uppsala Municipality, the Swedish Public Employment Service, and private housing companies.
The economists at IBF follow the tradition within economics and publish mainly in international, peer-reviewed journals. Over the last years, the economists at IBF have been very successful and have several publications in highly ranked and prestigious
journals.
Contact: Matz Dahlberg
Environmental Psychology
Environmental psychologists study the psychological and social processes that arise in the interaction between humans and the socio-physical environment, often with the aim of improving such environments or influencing people to act environmentally friendly. The discipline has laid the theoretical and empirical foundations for a critical approach to behavioral assumptions made in the design of the built environment as well as
various practices in natural resource management. In addition to collaborations with other academic disciplines, environmental psychology has been described as a "frontier" discipline because the work is often carried out together with actors in professions that have a practical responsibility for design, planning and policy, such as architecture, landscape architecture, ecology, forestry, wildlife management, and public health.
The environmental psychology research at IBF covers a wide range of issues that have to do with how to improve everyday environments for city dwellers while reducing humanity's environmental impact. Much of the research concerns environments that support recovery from stress and other forms of psychological restoration, so-called restorative environments, including the home and green spaces in the immediate area.
The research is internationally leading and applies, among other things, experimental and epidemiological methods and is conducted in collaboration with a large number of researchers in various disciplines and professions in Sweden and internationally.
The environmental psychologists at IBF generally publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals, but on occasion they also publish chapters in edited volumes. These publications are read not only by psychologists, but also by researchers and practitioners working in a broad range of other disciplines, from architecture to wildlife management.
Contact: Terry Hartig
Sociology
Sociology is often described as the study or science of society. Sociologists conduct social science basic research and develop – without limitations to any specific areas or themes – methods and theories to study, understand, and explain social reality based on the understanding that human action and thought cannot only be understood as given by nature or as the result of individual self-determination. Humans are socially determined
beings.
The sociological research at IBF focuses on a variety of subjects such as social structures (class, gender, ethnicity, and age) in relation to housing, welfare policies, urban policies, social movements, and urban planning. We also investigate social needs and housing; segregation, migration, gentrification, public space, and labor markets.
Members of the group have largely published their research in top-ranked urban and housing academic journals, as well as in other disciplinary outlets in the field of sociology and social sciences more broadly, in addition to disseminate their work
through academic books, policy reports, debate articles, podcast and media interviews, blog entries and social media in English and other languages.
Contact: Miguel A. Martínez
Political Science
In political science, politics and power are studied. The research addresses, among other things, how societies are governed and should be governed, who participates in decision-making, and how actors such as parties, citizens, businesses, and interest groups interact. Furthermore, political science deals with the international political system, war and peace, and global environmental challenges. Questions about culture,
discourse, and ideology are central. Political science can contribute to IBF's research themes with everything from knowledge about the governance of cities, neighborhoods,
and residential areas to methods for analyzing policies and discourses.
The political science group at IBF conducts qualitative and quantitative research on Swedish and international housing and urban politics. The research is based on various theoretical perspectives and addresses themes such as Swedish housing policy, housing access, housing choices, how cities are governed and ought to be governed, grassroots
mobilization for local influence and urban climate transition, different groups' climate impact, the Swedish welfare system, political participation, and the impact of AI development on political engagement. The group also contributes to the development of qualitative methodological approaches.
The political scientists at IBF publish books on well-reputed Swedish and English publishing houses, and articles in top-ranked housing and urban journals, highly ranked general disciplinary journals and journals in neighboring multidisciplinary themes. The political scientists at IBF also regularly contribute to books and outlets for a broader public audience.
Contact: Kristina Boréus