Sociocultural dimensions of mobility transitions to come: introduction to the special issue

Abstract

Mobility is on the move. Not least due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as symptoms of socio ecological crisis, the present mobility systems are increasingly questioned and contested all around the world. In this context, the special issue aims to illuminate the role that socioculture plays in mobility transitions, thereby questioning technocentric views on mobility transitions. It focuses on the following overall questions: How is future mobility portrayed and constructed in current discourses? Which role do or can different kinds of actors play in transitions toward sustainable mobility systems? How are urban mobility cultures changing? Which kinds of new practices and mobility patterns emerge? Do future mobilities re-enforce existing sociotechnical regimes and social inequities or create new ones? In the first part of this introductory article, we give an overview of existing conceptions of sociocultural dimensions of spatial mobility. Furthermore, by drawing on Pitrim Sorokin’s understanding of socioculture, we elaborate a framework that allows us to classify the different contributions to this special issue and to relate them to each other. In the second part of this introductory article, we briefly introduce and discuss the various contributions.

Keywords

• spatial mobility
• socioculture
• mobility culture
• mobility transitions