Blog | Mobility

How does socio-spatial segregation shape the experience of urban space? In this blog post, Nicolas Zehner reflects on a recent research trip to Cape Town by taking a closer look at the intricate relationships between queer dating, Pokémon Go, and urban transportation. Although seemingly unrelated, these forms of urban sociality are all intimately linked through structural inequality.

The authors of this blogpost are migration researchers. While doing research on the unequal distribution of mobility rights around the world, they make use of the privileges accorded to them by the very same regime. Their position has allowed them to travel to six countries within the last year. Inspired by stories from their past and current fieldwork, the authors reflect on their research within an unequal mobility and migration regime, which has become much more than a mere research object to them.

How does the Kenyan middle class live? Subproject A05 “Being Home” examines living spaces in Nairobi and their significance for identity formation, drawing on urban developments of its colonial past. Project leader Jochen Kibel and cooperation partner Makau Kitata talk to journalist Brenda Strohmaier about their first findings.

As ontological or theoretical insight, methodological approach, analytical perspective, ethical standpoint and political praxis, intersectionality has shed light on how the entanglements of different regimes of power (sex/gender, race, ethnicity, age, class, etc.) shape experiences, processes of becoming and social relations. However, can intersectionality also address questions of space and geography? Why is it so important to bring together intersectionality and spatiality? How can we research intersectionality in political geography? This blogpost constitutes an attempt to answer all these queries drawing from the observed potential of intersectionality to delve into personal (and political) situated experiences of mobility through space.

Territorial borders and border control are back on the political agenda. Globalization has not led to a world without borders. On the contrary, states have expanded the bordering function by fortifying borders, externalizing border control, and introducing digital “smart borders.” This blog post provides an overview of recent trends in borders and border control. The special issue “Borders as Places of Control. Fixing, Shifting, and Reinventing State Borders” of the journal Historical Social Research expands on these considerations.

In this article, I will present five theses concerning the ongoing race for bringing automated vehicles on public roads. Some of my theses are quite disillusioning, some provide hope for a better future of urban mobility with fewer private cars, some concern seemingly “technical” details. What underlies my thinking is the fact that in a field like automated driving, where technical and regulative norms are still evolving and being recalibrated, new technical norms introduce new social norms on our roads, and they enable wholly new patterns of mobility behavior. I study technological innovations as phenomena which are developed within society, within existing power relations, and within constantly changing societal norms and beliefs of what is a “good”, “achievable” or a “bad” future. In most cases, new technologies are presented as means for achieving a better future within a society.

Delhi is considered a dangerous city when it comes to women’s mobility. Episodes of violence like the bus gang-rape of 2012 are a symptom of a city inscribed with gender inequality, especially in relation to accessing public space. In this contribution, I explore the experiences and relationship with mobility of the members of a ladies-only motorcycle club, the Bikerni. By looking at their hardships and successes, this blog post aims to convey how biking is a conflagration point for more than just patriarchal relations of power.

Since the emergence of ride-hailing applications, South African urban centers have seen a rise in violence between the traditional metered taxis and the new ride-share services. Hundreds of criminal cases have been opened over the last years, and protests organized by ride-hailing drivers have drawn attention to the rising tension in the transport industry. A focus on urban infrastructure might shed new light on the history, politics and materiality of places that perpetuate violence in South Africa’s cities.