ABSTRACT
Scientific research relates to the societal context within which the researchers work, and time-geography is no exception. As regards research about urban and regional development and planning, this is obvious in, for example, Sweden, Japan and China. The time-geographic concepts and thinking were developed in Sweden during the late 1960s and 1970s when there was an increasing need for new directions in urban and regional planning. This chapter starts with a presentation of the development of Swedish society and how it inspired Torsten Hägerstrand in his thinking when developing the time-geographic approach. It is followed by experiences of time-geographical research, with special attention paid to Japan and China.
