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Demanding Energy pp 99–119Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Towards a ‘Meaning’-ful Analysis of the Temporalities of Mobility Practices: Implications for Sustainability

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Abstract

This chapter argues for the value of taking a more relational and situated understanding of the temporality of mobility practices. While there are dominant meanings of how temporal dichotomies relate to mobility practices, these are challenged by the multiplicity and relativity of meanings people attribute to their practices. Drawing on research conducted in Birmingham, UK, the chapter details how people’s experiences of mobility are made meaningful in relation to different dimensions of temporalities, as well as wider, complex intersections of temporalities, practices and materialities. Focusing on the temporal dimensions of speed, duration and rhythmicity, it argues that since multiple temporalities are already embedded in people’s understandings of mobility, these should be more carefully represented and analysed in discussions of sustainability and possible mobility transitions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://liveablecities.org.uk/

  2. 2.

    Data comes from a series of 28 interviews with representatives of organisations that may have a central role in shaping and transforming Birmingham’s mobility landscape (‘mobility innovators’) and a series of 8 focus groups with residents of two different wards in the city of Birmingham with contrasting levels of density and deprivation. This research has been conducted as part of the EPSRC Liveable Cities research grant – agreement number EP/J017698/1.

  3. 3.

    For further analysis of the role of the car in current mobility systems, you may also wish to see the chapter by Mullen and Marsden in this collection.

  4. 4.

    The A38 St Chad’s and Queensway Road tunnels that go through Birmingham City Centre were closed over the summer of 2013 for refurbishment.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter draws on research conducted for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Liveable Cities Programme (grant agreement EP/J017698/1). Thanks are extended to the interview and focus group participants of this research for their time and very valuable input. The author is grateful to Professor John Urry who was co-investigator in the research programme and her research supervisor. Many thanks are also extended to the two anonymous reviewers and the editors of the book, especially Dr Allison Hui for her insightful feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Katerina Psarikidou

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  1. Katerina Psarikidou
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Allison Hui

  2. School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Rosie Day

  3. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Gordon Walker

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Psarikidou, K. (2018). Towards a ‘Meaning’-ful Analysis of the Temporalities of Mobility Practices: Implications for Sustainability. In: Hui, A., Day, R., Walker, G. (eds) Demanding Energy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61991-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61991-0_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61991-0

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