Benno Werlen (born 10 October 1952) is a Swiss geographer who is known for his action-centered approach to human geography and his concept of a Geography of Everyday Regionalizations.
Werlen currently holds the UNESCO-Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena (Germany). From 1998 to 2018, he held the chair of social geography at Jena University. Werlen was a visiting professor at the Universities of Salzburg, Geneva and Nijmegen as well as a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has served as a panel member for the European Research Council from 2008–15, and for the French National Research Agency (ANR) in the field of Social and human sciences from 2008-12. From 2004-2016, he chaired the International Geographical Union’s commission "Cultural approach in geography", and since 2016, Werlen has been heading the commission "Global understanding".[1]
In 2016, Werlen received the International Geographical Union’s Lauréat d’Honneur for his lifetime achievements and his efforts for the "2016 International Year of Global Understanding".