Department of Geography

Social and Economic Geography

The SEG research group focuses on all social and economic activities and developments on the earth's surface.

News in the spotlight

16-01-2025

Dr. Tanhua Jin receives the Best Paper Award from the TRB2025 AED20 committee

In January 2025, several researchers from Social and Economic Geography participated in the TRB annual meeting in Washington DC, a premier global gathering of transportation professionals, featuring thousands of presentations that showcase cutting-edge research in transportation. Tanhua Jin's paper (Evaluating the Potential of the ‘15-Minute City’ Concept in the United States via Activity-Based Mobility Patterns) won the Best Paper Award from the TRB2025 AED20 Committee on Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems.

Co-authors: Kailai Wang, Yanan Xin, Jian Shi, Ye Hong and Frank Witlox

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Research themes

Research in the domain of Social and Economic Geography focusses on three clusters.

First of all, the research analyses travel behaviour and city logistics.

Second, there is an emphasis on present-day evolutions in the Flemish urban system, urban policy, and the formation of a world city network.

Finally, the research also investigates location decisions of private and public companies, the relationship between transport and production, and land use modelling.

urban development
world city network
travel behaviour
transportation
land development

Prof. dr. Frank Witlox

mobilities travel behavior analysis and modeling travel and land use sustainable mobility issues business travel cross-border mobility city logistics global commodity chains . . .

Prof. dr. Giovanni Circella

travel behavior mobility land use

Prof. dr. Ben Derudder

urbanization netwerk analysis land use
List with all staff members Social and Economic Geography

PhD research

THE HAPPY TRAVELER - Connecting undirected trips to travel satisfaction, positive utility, and subjective well-being
Optimising daily police patrol: Towards better matching police supply and demand by directing police in space and time
Virtual interlining in the European airport network and the quest for new datasets in air transport geography

Project research

Survey 'Cycling in the dark and dark'
Integrating public transport and spatial development: Identifying opportunities drawing on node-place modeling
A global analysis of polycentric urban regions

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