RESEARCH

LABLAB – is a non-profit research studio that investigates geographies and perceptions of locality in relation to globalization, technology and large scale spatial transformations.

The Connector Landscape

︎︎︎By Fredreric Cathomas, 2025
︎︎︎Research

This essay follows the Tujetsch Valley and the village of Sedrun as a Connector Landscape: a place where rivers originate, energies circulate, and meanings travel. Through hydropower and tourism, through alpine imagery and solar ambition, Sedrun reveals how the local and the global are quietly entangled.

Samexistens i omställningens tid

︎︎︎2024 - 2025
︎︎︎Research

Under 2024 och 2025 har LABLAB, Green Power Sweden (f.d. Svensk Vindenergi), Sveriges hembygdsförbund och SLU Alnarp arbetat tillsammans i projektet Samexistens i omställningens tid. Projektet har finansierats av Vinnova inom utlysningen Framtidens attraktiva livsmiljöer genom en socialt hållbar industri.

New Energy Landscapes

The challenge of linking energy transition with social, cultural and ecological values in the Baltic Sea Region.
︎︎︎2022 - 2023
︎︎︎International research

LABLAB and its partners were granted funding from the Swedish Institute for the project ”New Energy Landscapes”. The project aims to develop a cohesive trans-national and trans-disciplinary platform of know-how on how land-based renewable energy impacts landscapes, spatial planning and identity in the Baltic Sea Region.

What landscapes are for and for whom?

︎︎︎May 2023
︎︎︎Research essay
︎︎︎New Energy Landscapes
︎︎︎IBA Thüringen

As citizens we need to be engaged in a democratic dialogue that dares to activate the questions on how we progress new values with the landscapes that withhold collective identities and, simultaneously generate electricity for the European industry and households through the transition. Simply, by means of raising the questions of what landscapes are for - and for whom? This implies European citizens to be involved in and part of a critical dialogue that guides us collectively on how to deal with the climate and energy crisis, yet not to leave the rest of the world behind. As Europeans we need to navigate between learning how to “land on Earth” as well as how to “land among senses” hence, the sense of losing landscapes and progressing to new ones.

Boys will be boys? Ukrainian energy landscapes during and beyond war.

By Maryna Semenchenko.
︎︎︎April 2023.
︎︎︎Research essay
︎︎︎New Energy Landscapes

In this essay, I explore the links between energy production and landscapes, as LABLAB typically does, yet complement this discussion with the third dimension of gender roles. Investigating my home context of Ukraine before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion, I build a narrative in four chapters. Starting with a short introduction to the Ukrainian energy sector, I take a closer look at the coal-mining regions in the East, their experiences of decarbonization, and the gender dynamics established there. Further, I reflect on contributing factors that will affect the future energy landscapes of Ukraine and the potential role of women in this future.