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Oscar Jacobsson

Postdoctor

Human Geography
Mail
oscar.jacobsson@geography.gu.se
Visiting address
Viktoriagatan 13
41125 Göteborg
Room number
512C
Postal address
Box 625
40530 Göteborg

About Oscar Jacobsson

Research

My research explores the interplay between humans and the environment from both contemporary and historical perspectives, focusing on the interaction between human and physical geographical conditions, economy, and human thought. Theoretically, I adopt a processual and materialist perspective where societies are understood through the conditions required to sustain all aspects of human life and the subsequent organization of resource use over time. Drawing inspiration from Torsten Hägerstrand’s landscape theory and historical materialism, I view the landscape as an entanglement of biophysical, economic, and social processes, where human strivings for stability and expansion both create inertia and drive change.

My research originates in studies of the long-term transformation of the agrarian landscape, with a specific focus on water-related environments and resource use. In my doctoral thesis, When the Flood Marked the Land (2023), I investigated how the interplay between agricultural technological development, biophysical conditions, and local resource strategies shaped the floodplain landscapes along the rivers Emån and Ätran between 1500 and 1910. By combining historical maps with archival studies, I have highlighted how the introduction of new farming systems and market forces altered human vulnerability to natural processes and laid the foundation for the landscape of modernization.

In my subsequent research, I have broadened this perspective by examining how contemporary spatial planning frames and values landscape resources—for example, by critically reviewing how outdoor recreation has shifted from a public health interest to an economic asset for municipal growth.

Today, my research focuses on how the material and institutional inertia of the landscape sets the framework for contemporary land use, environmental management, and climate adaptation. My ongoing projects include:

Forestry values and innovations: Within the framework of the EU Horizon project BIOTraCes (2023–2026), I study how small-scale forest owners' values and emotional relationships with the forest interact with demands for biodiversity and climate-smart forestry in three case study areas in Western Sweden (www.biotraces.eu). I am also involved in the policy lab "Tänk...om! (Imagine... if!) – an innovation lab for climate-smart forestry" involving the public and private sectors for sustainable land use, led by the Fyrbodal Association of Local Authorities and funded by Formas (2025–2027).

Food preparedness in crisis and war: By analyzing historical experiences of supply crises, I investigate how societal resilience and food preparedness can be understood and planned across different geographical scales in the face of future uncertainties. I do this within the Swedish Research Council (VR) funded project Navigating the shifting scales of food preparedness: societal and farmer resitance to crises  (2026–2030).

Teaching

I teach on the following courses:

Other commitments

Alongside my university work, I also conduct historical-geographical analyses for contract archaeological projects.