Mobility, Society and Culture

• Overview
• Research Projects

Overview

This research theme concentrates on the people using transport systems, as well as those who cannot for reasons of economic, social or cultural disadvantage. Mobility is broadly defined to encompass both people's actual travel behaviors as well as their potential movements or perceived accessibility. Mobility also relates to the multiple meanings ascribed to movement and through which travel becomes imbued with values, norms and power as well as to everyday travel as something people experience and practice. Understood thus, mobility is a culturally constructed process that occurs at, and produces, multiple temporal and spatial scales. It is integral to people's everyday lives and to the issue of social equity within societies. Within this theme the reciprocal relations between changes in people's mobility and transformations in demography, culture, technology, the economy, the built environment and institutions are explored. Examples of such transformations include the ageing of the population, the proliferation of new information technologies, the move towards a low carbon future and the interaction between transport and social exclusion.

Research Projects

• Impact of Constructing Non-motorised Networks and Evaluating Changes in Travel (iConnect)
  Funded by the ESPRC; 2008-2013; University of Oxford with University of Southampton, Loughborough University, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, University of the West of England, Bristol, University of Bristol, National Obesity Observatory, Oxford, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and University of East Anglia, Norwich; Dr Christian Brand and Dr Tim Jones
• INTRA-SIM Oxfordshire and Swindon
  Funded by Oxfordshire County Council, Swindon Borough Council and the UK Department for Transport; 2009-2010; University of Oxford with Halcrow; Dr Robin Hickman and Prof. David Banister
• Modelling the Relationships between Transport Poverty and Social Disadvantage
  Funded by ESRC; 2011-2013; University of Oxford; Dr Karen Lucas
• Planning for Sustainable Travel
  Funded by Commission for Integrated Transport; 2008-2009; University of Oxford with Halcrow, Peter Headicar (Oxford Brookes) and Tim Pharoah; Dr Robin Hickman and Prof. David Banister
• Social Impacts and Social Equity Issues in Transport
  Funded by the ESRC; 2010-2011; University of Oxford with London School of Economics, University of Aberdeen, Newcastle University, and University of Warwick; Dr Karen Lucas and Lara Scott
• Transport and Accessibility in Low Income Communities in the Recife Metropolitan Region
  Funded by the Brazilian National Science Research Council; 2011-2014; University of Oxford and the University of Pernambuco, Brazil; Dr Karen Lucas
• TranSENDaNC: Transport and Social Exclusion: New Directions and National Comparisons
  Funded by EU Marie Curie International Researcher Exchange Scheme (IRSES); 2011-2014; University of Oxford, University of Ghent, Belgium and the Universidad de Concepción, Chile; Dr Karen Lucas and Dr Tim Schwanen
• Visioning and Backcasting for Transport Futures in Chinese Cities
  Funded by the Centre for Studies in Property Valuation and Management Trust and Oxford Martin School; 2010-2011; University of Oxford with Shandong University of Finance, Shandong Academy of Sciences, and Jinan Municipal Government, China; Dr Jimin Zhao, Prof. David Banister, and Dr Robin Hickman
• Visioning and Backcasting for Transport in London
  Funded by UrbanBuzz and HEFCE; 2007-2009; University of Oxford with Halcrow and Space Syntax; Dr Robin Hickman, Prof. David Banister and Sharad Saxena