Advanced Urban Geography
Lecture 1 Time geography and the Mobility turn
1.1 Mobilizing the new mobilities paradigm (Scheller & Urry, 2016)
• aim of this article: show impact and reach of the new mobilities paradigm, and the crucial applied
research questions where it can make the greatest contributions (p.21)
↪ paradigm; when within a scientific community anomalous “facts” don’t make sense within the
existing points of view
• new mobilities paradigm; relates to a shift in the way policymakers and mobility researchers think
about mobility as a whole
↪ new mobilities paradigm as a new stage in mobility research and applied mobility policies
↪ new mobility paradigm seeks its fundamental recasting in social science. Mobility is about
connectivity and solving traffic flows, and about the social aspects that are related to mobility and
the mobility network
↪ the shift is being characterised by:
↪ examining movement within the workings (werking) of most social institutions and social
practices
↪ e.g. investigate the different activities society does at certain times to evaluate the
performance of the mobility network)
↪ examining different modes of mobilities and their complex combinations
↪ researchers do not see public transport as a separate mode of transport, but look
at public transport in relation to walkability and bicycle infrastructure
↪ relationship between the physical movement of the objects (driving train) and the
virtual mobility (people looking at their phone while sitting in the train)
↪ examining different types of trips and their relationship between social practices
↪ so not only quantitative research but also qualitative research
↪ what are people doing and experiencing while traveling
↪ examining moorings (ankerpunten) within the transport system
↪ moorings; e.g. people who choose a certain transport mode because they are used
to travel that way or have certain attitudes towards a certain transport mode
↪ examining how social practices can emerge (ontstaan) through stemming (voortkomen uit)
from how people use different systems
↪ e.g. do people combine shopping and commuting for the sake of efficiency? - what
are the effects of that on mobility as a whole? - does this lead to unintended
consequences?
↪ examining unintended consequences of policy across different scientific domains
↪ e.g. researchers look at car traffic ánd the relation between urban form
and the overall built environment
↪ examining the networks, relationships, flows and circulations, rather than a focus on the
accessibility of not fixed places (looking at the whole network and not the road alone)
• the new paradigm draws upon (gebaseerd op) and develops three other theories:
↪ complexity theory and social practise theory
↪ seeing mobility as a social world that consists of complex adaptive systems stretching
over time-space. Policymakers should look at mobility as a system connecting social activities
and the implications this has to lives and society (rather than looking at the movements
within mobility and predicting and providing mobility)
1
,↪ socio-technical transitions theory
↪ seeing mobility as a discipline where behaviour and attitudes are constantly changing.
Change is caused by changes in policies, infrastructure, industry structures and symbolic
meaning (no longer by technical changes)
↪ e.g. in the past, people had more positive attitudes to car traffic than now.
Transition theory looks at the behavioural changes in the past and tries to predict
future trends
↪ social practice theory
↪ researching how social practices around mobility changed in past, changing in present and
might change in future by examining social practices beyond transportation choices and
behaviour
↪ e.g. looking how attitudes about climate change are changing and how this is
relating to changes in transport and attitudes toward mobility
• mobility research is going to be more interdisciplinary and the effects on adjacent (aangrenzende)
fields are more prominent
↪ impact on adjacent fields because the mobility paradigm provides us with a lot of data that can
also be useful for the planning of e.g. malls
↪ ripple effect; other fields are going to be affected by changes due to the new mobility paradigm →
mobility can no longer be seen as a disciple that only seeks solutions to traffic problems
• mobility is also changing in the applied sciences
↪ growing interest in a system that is based on sharing to make the systems more affordable and
sustainable, rely less on CO2-emmisions
↪ connectivity and accessibility as social focus point, better design for walkability and accessibility
for the socially immobile, a system that more socially connects neighbourhoods
↪ policymakers need to realize the complexity embedded in the mobility system and get beyond
(verder kijken dan) the idea that consumers simply need to stop driving a car and start riding a bike
2
, 1.2 Beyond space (as we know it): Towards Temporally integrated geographies of segregation,
health and accessibility (Kwan, 2013)
• aim of this article: expanding our focus beyond space and include time and human mobility will
considerably enrich our understanding of how individuals of different social groups experience racial
and ethnic segregation, exposure to environmental influences and access to social facilities (p.1079)
• spatiotemporal experiences; experiences people have at different places at different time periods
↪ not only influenced by the place people live but also by the places people visit, the time people
spend at places, the experience of travelling between these places and who they are interacting with
↪ e.g. a person might live five kilometres from the city centre with a lot of opportunities. But
if the place can’t be reached within half an hour, that place might be inaccessible
• looking at spatiotemporal experiences (looking at time; daily dynamism) rather than distance →
gives another perspective on racial and ethnical segregation, environmental exposure and
accessibility. For example:
↪ segregation
↪ looking at census data (volkstellingsgegevens) you might argue neighbourhoods are very
ethnically or racially segregated. But if a researcher only looks at places people live, they
forget that people also interact with people at work, at school or during leisure activities,
which might be less or more segregated
↪ environmental exposure
↪ if researchers only look at noise pollution or high polluting substances at the residential
level, they forget that people also work or undertake other activities at other places that
might lead to mitigation or exacerbating of the effects
↪ accessibility
↪ most empirical studies conceptualize accessibility as locational proximity. Researchers do
not consider that people need to be at certain places at certain times that leads to other
accessibility features. People might be presented with other opportunities during travel
↪ mobility is an essential element of people’s spatiotemporal experiences and these
experiences can’t be fully understood by just looking at where people live
↪ e.g. when a student (who lives far from the city) is in the city, he is confronted with
opportunities. His mental accessibility to the city might be less severe than people suspect
3
Lecture 1 Time geography and the Mobility turn
1.1 Mobilizing the new mobilities paradigm (Scheller & Urry, 2016)
• aim of this article: show impact and reach of the new mobilities paradigm, and the crucial applied
research questions where it can make the greatest contributions (p.21)
↪ paradigm; when within a scientific community anomalous “facts” don’t make sense within the
existing points of view
• new mobilities paradigm; relates to a shift in the way policymakers and mobility researchers think
about mobility as a whole
↪ new mobilities paradigm as a new stage in mobility research and applied mobility policies
↪ new mobility paradigm seeks its fundamental recasting in social science. Mobility is about
connectivity and solving traffic flows, and about the social aspects that are related to mobility and
the mobility network
↪ the shift is being characterised by:
↪ examining movement within the workings (werking) of most social institutions and social
practices
↪ e.g. investigate the different activities society does at certain times to evaluate the
performance of the mobility network)
↪ examining different modes of mobilities and their complex combinations
↪ researchers do not see public transport as a separate mode of transport, but look
at public transport in relation to walkability and bicycle infrastructure
↪ relationship between the physical movement of the objects (driving train) and the
virtual mobility (people looking at their phone while sitting in the train)
↪ examining different types of trips and their relationship between social practices
↪ so not only quantitative research but also qualitative research
↪ what are people doing and experiencing while traveling
↪ examining moorings (ankerpunten) within the transport system
↪ moorings; e.g. people who choose a certain transport mode because they are used
to travel that way or have certain attitudes towards a certain transport mode
↪ examining how social practices can emerge (ontstaan) through stemming (voortkomen uit)
from how people use different systems
↪ e.g. do people combine shopping and commuting for the sake of efficiency? - what
are the effects of that on mobility as a whole? - does this lead to unintended
consequences?
↪ examining unintended consequences of policy across different scientific domains
↪ e.g. researchers look at car traffic ánd the relation between urban form
and the overall built environment
↪ examining the networks, relationships, flows and circulations, rather than a focus on the
accessibility of not fixed places (looking at the whole network and not the road alone)
• the new paradigm draws upon (gebaseerd op) and develops three other theories:
↪ complexity theory and social practise theory
↪ seeing mobility as a social world that consists of complex adaptive systems stretching
over time-space. Policymakers should look at mobility as a system connecting social activities
and the implications this has to lives and society (rather than looking at the movements
within mobility and predicting and providing mobility)
1
,↪ socio-technical transitions theory
↪ seeing mobility as a discipline where behaviour and attitudes are constantly changing.
Change is caused by changes in policies, infrastructure, industry structures and symbolic
meaning (no longer by technical changes)
↪ e.g. in the past, people had more positive attitudes to car traffic than now.
Transition theory looks at the behavioural changes in the past and tries to predict
future trends
↪ social practice theory
↪ researching how social practices around mobility changed in past, changing in present and
might change in future by examining social practices beyond transportation choices and
behaviour
↪ e.g. looking how attitudes about climate change are changing and how this is
relating to changes in transport and attitudes toward mobility
• mobility research is going to be more interdisciplinary and the effects on adjacent (aangrenzende)
fields are more prominent
↪ impact on adjacent fields because the mobility paradigm provides us with a lot of data that can
also be useful for the planning of e.g. malls
↪ ripple effect; other fields are going to be affected by changes due to the new mobility paradigm →
mobility can no longer be seen as a disciple that only seeks solutions to traffic problems
• mobility is also changing in the applied sciences
↪ growing interest in a system that is based on sharing to make the systems more affordable and
sustainable, rely less on CO2-emmisions
↪ connectivity and accessibility as social focus point, better design for walkability and accessibility
for the socially immobile, a system that more socially connects neighbourhoods
↪ policymakers need to realize the complexity embedded in the mobility system and get beyond
(verder kijken dan) the idea that consumers simply need to stop driving a car and start riding a bike
2
, 1.2 Beyond space (as we know it): Towards Temporally integrated geographies of segregation,
health and accessibility (Kwan, 2013)
• aim of this article: expanding our focus beyond space and include time and human mobility will
considerably enrich our understanding of how individuals of different social groups experience racial
and ethnic segregation, exposure to environmental influences and access to social facilities (p.1079)
• spatiotemporal experiences; experiences people have at different places at different time periods
↪ not only influenced by the place people live but also by the places people visit, the time people
spend at places, the experience of travelling between these places and who they are interacting with
↪ e.g. a person might live five kilometres from the city centre with a lot of opportunities. But
if the place can’t be reached within half an hour, that place might be inaccessible
• looking at spatiotemporal experiences (looking at time; daily dynamism) rather than distance →
gives another perspective on racial and ethnical segregation, environmental exposure and
accessibility. For example:
↪ segregation
↪ looking at census data (volkstellingsgegevens) you might argue neighbourhoods are very
ethnically or racially segregated. But if a researcher only looks at places people live, they
forget that people also interact with people at work, at school or during leisure activities,
which might be less or more segregated
↪ environmental exposure
↪ if researchers only look at noise pollution or high polluting substances at the residential
level, they forget that people also work or undertake other activities at other places that
might lead to mitigation or exacerbating of the effects
↪ accessibility
↪ most empirical studies conceptualize accessibility as locational proximity. Researchers do
not consider that people need to be at certain places at certain times that leads to other
accessibility features. People might be presented with other opportunities during travel
↪ mobility is an essential element of people’s spatiotemporal experiences and these
experiences can’t be fully understood by just looking at where people live
↪ e.g. when a student (who lives far from the city) is in the city, he is confronted with
opportunities. His mental accessibility to the city might be less severe than people suspect
3
