Human mobility, global change and local development

Abstract

Human mobility is one of the main themes of study in geography, especially during a transformation phase in the relationships between global change and local development. These themes were the basis of the constitution in the year 2000 of the IGU Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility (Globility). Generally, human mobility studies make reference to movements rather than the groups that made them and the places where they occurred. During its first years of research, Globility has gathered together the various aspects of mobility adopting an approach in research that was able to go beyond the “push-pull” concept. This paper considers the process of local development in relation to the forms of mobility, both permanent and temporary, which are caused by it, and vice versa. The difficulty encountered in registering, analysing and quantifying the various forms of mobility in relation to movements led to the adoption of a methodological approach which places the local dimension at the centre of a process which appears to be of exclusively global significance. This analysis raises new questions on the consequences that such an approach could also have on political aspects, which should consider the local dimension as their point of reference, side by side with the global dimension or completely taking its place.

Keywords

• human mobility
• global change
• local development
• stages
• temporary mobility
• permanent mobility