Advanced Introduction To Mobilities

Leading mobilities theorist Mimi Sheller offers an up-to-date, comprehensive analysis of the complex mobility disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath in this timely Advanced Introduction. It outlines the formation of the interdisciplinary field of mobility studies, arguing that mobilities theory is crucial to planning post-pandemic recovery, sustainable communities, and low-carbon transitions. From tourism to migration to urban infrastructure, to informal and reproductive mobilities, Sheller reveals how multiple im/mobilities are interconnected, as the novel coronavirus reminds us as it hitchhikes across the globe through its human hosts.

This stimulating and accessible Advanced Introduction critically engages with dominant, modernist and ahistorical narratives of development, foregrounding the overlooked dissonant discourses that are largely written out of mainstream development. It argues that development discourse and practice must remain aware of how historically unequal relations continue to be reproduced today and outlines a range of effective strategies for guiding change towards achieving global social justice.

Presenting a comparative examination of five major voluntary global movements: commodities, people, capital, information and technology, this book traces and develops discussions of globalization and spatial mobility. The book further covers the means and media used for these mobilities: ports and ships, airports and airplanes, international banking electronic media, and the Internet, telephony and TV. Two concluding chapters focus on the mobile globe, highlighting present and future global mobility in general, and the relationships among the five global mobilities, in particular.

This insightful Advanced Introduction explores the key attributes of cities, identifying their five basic characteristics; innate complexity, the agglomeration of activities, inter-city connectivities, the projection of power, and relations to states. Peter J. Taylor gives a broad and engaging overview of how these characteristics work and relate to each other, supplemented by ten short city insights which offer readers specific examples of cities and themes.

Analysing the causes and effects of widespread gentrification, this Advanced Introduction provides an innovative insight into the global debate instigated by this process. Examining the impact of gentrification on lower income groups and other issues, Chris Hamnett discusses research into the socio-economic causes and effects of gentrification in a variety of cities worldwide.

Highlighting the power of multi-dimensional demography, this Advanced Introduction addresses the most consequential changes in our societies and economies using quantitative approaches. It defines three demographic theories with predictive power – demographic metabolism, transition and dividend – and repositions the discipline at the heart of social science.

In this thought-provoking book, Aharon Kellerman presents a wide-ranging understanding of personal mobilities; the mobilities which individuals initiate, direct, and operate physically and virtually and which constitute an expression of personal autonomy. He readdresses existing concepts and knowledge as well as assessing novel and emerging technologies for self-driven mobilities.

Reflecting the variety and diversity of mobile methods and their applications, this comprehensive Handbook illuminates the multiple dimensions and transdisciplinary nature of mobilities research, from transport to tourism, cargo to information as well as physical, virtual and imaginative mobilities. It brings together key contributions on the state of the art of qualitative and quantitative research, multimethod combinations and co-creation methods within the mobilities paradigm.