In old age, walking difficulty may reduce opportunities to reach valued activity destinations. Walking modifications, e.g., slower pace or using a walking aid, may enable individuals to continue ...going where they wish, and hence postpone the consequences of the onset of walking difficulties. We studied visited activity destinations (type, distance) among older people with varying degrees of walking limitations. Community-dwelling 75–85-year-old people living in Jyväskylä (
N
= 901) were asked to state whether they had no difficulty walking 2 km, had modified their walking, or had difficulty walking. On a digital map, participants located physical exercise, attractive, and regular destinations they had visited during the past month. Destination counts and median distance to destinations from home were computed. Participants with intact walking reported higher counts of physical exercise (IRR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.31, 1.61) and attractive destinations (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.10, 1.40) than those with walking difficulty and also visited these destinations further away from home than the others (
b
= 0.46, 95% CI 0.20, 0.71). Those with walking modifications reported higher counts of physical exercise destinations than those with walking difficulty (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.09, 1.40). Counts of regular destinations and distance traveled were not associated with walking limitations. Walking modifications may help people with walking difficulty reach destinations further away from home, potentially contributing to their sense of autonomy. For those with walking difficulty, a low count of destinations other than regular destinations, e.g., shops or healthcare facilities, may signal their abandonment of recreational activities and a decrease in their life space, potentially leading to reduced well-being.
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NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
In this paper we study the impact of firm relocations on commuting distance and the probability of married couples and cohabiting couples with children separating. We use Swedish register data for ...the period 2010-16 and select employees of relocating firms with one workplace and more than 10 employees. Focusing on this sample allows us to use plausibly exogenous variation in the commuting distance arising from the relocation. We extend the literature on the effect of commuting on relationship stability by reducing the possibility for unobserved time-variant factors to bias our estimates. While previous literature has focused on the difference between short- and long-distance commuting, we focus on changes in the commuting distance that are externally induced by firm management. We find a small but statistically significant negative effect of increased firm relocation distance on family stability. A 10 km change in commuting distance leads to a 0.09 percentage point higher probability of separation if the commuter remains with the firm for the next five years.
Following considerable social and demographic change over the past six decades, macro-social theories have attempted to explain contemporary society through trends of weakening traditional ...institutions (e.g. state, church and family) and certainties (e.g. life-long full-time work and marriage) and growing self-articulation, individualisation, destandardisation and uncertainty. At the same time, new theories and discourses on population movement have emerged, in which emphasis is placed on mobility as both an empowering personal choice and a dominant process of modernity. The contemporary ubiquity of separation, and the corresponding rise of single-person and lone-parent households, is often proposed as one of the clearest articulations of instability, individualisation and weakening of the family. However, through regression-based modelling of geocoded British Household Panel Survey data, we use the compelling case of moves related to separation among families to demonstrate how: (1) links between related individuals can simultaneously trigger, shape and constrain (im)mobility; (2) linked lives can intersect in important ways with social, institutional and geographical structures; and (3) linked postseparation (im)mobility outcomes can often contradict individually-stated pre-separation preferences. Controlling for a range of multilevel characteristics, we find significant gender distinctions, with fathers more likely to leave the family home than mothers, and mothers less likely to break with post-separation familial proximity than fathers. Structural factors including housing-market geographies and population density are found to further shape these (im)mobility patterns. Together, our empirical analysis suggests that family dissolution will rarely herald a period of heightened individualisation, self-determination and unencumbered mobility. Indeed, a wider appreciation of the rise of non-traditional households, their complex linked lives and associated constraints could contribute to more realistic explanations of modern (im)mobility patterns and processes.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, INZLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
This article provides a comprehensive review of developments in transportation research. It is devoted to the interpretation of the role of public transport as a phenomenon in the context of ...sociocultural relations in the space of the modern city. The relevance of the study is due to the need for optimization of the social interactions in the field of public transport, which is a sociocultural phenomenon of our time. The characteristics of roads, routes, vehicles, and socially significant services determine the vectors and the intensity of mobility, conceptualized not only in terms of cultural, informational, socioeconomic exchange, but also in terms of the multiple risks associated with public transport as a sphere of professional employment and consumption. Public transport creates a field for the realization of the interests of various social groups, integrated through the regulation of consumption or competing for the chances and ways of using socially significant services. Participating in the organization of urban life, public transport is perceived as a benefit provided by the state, but at the same time it is a service subject of evaluation. Nevertheless, in foreign and Ukrainian sociological literature, there are many unresolved issues regarding the social role, structure, functions and norms of public transport in the city, its interaction with other social institutions is not disclosed, a unified system of social criteria for its effective work is not developed, and sociospatial ones are practically not affected.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Among the multitude of studies of factors that determine residential (im)mobility, relatively little attention has been paid to the length of time that people spend in a particular location and the ...importance of duration of stay for future relocation propensities. This study uses a large and detailed commercial survey sample of individuals in England and Wales and an appropriately tailored statistical approach to uncover new insights into the multilevel and spatially heterogeneous interactions that exist between residential duration, place attachment and plans for future residential relocation. We demonstrate how an individual's residential duration, as an essential ingredient for the accumulation of social capital and place-based attachment, is critical for informing plans for future (im)mobility. After controlling for a range of individual and contextual covariates, the predicted probability of planning a residential relocation is found to increase initially with duration of stay, to a peak after 4-5 years, and then to decline as the length of duration increases. However, there is evidence of strong geographical variation in this relationship, with some neighbourhoods being characterised by stable or even increasing propensities for movement with duration. The paper pays particular attention to the importance of wider neighbourhood dynamics (composition, selective sorting and population (in)stability), suggesting that they too play an important role in mediating duration-of-stay effects for individuals. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for researchers and policy practitioners interested in community dynamics, the development/accumulation of social capital and place attachment/rootedness, to give due consideration to multilevel durations of residence and, more broadly, the inherently spatial and temporal ties that bind individuals to place.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, INZLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
On average, temporary jobs are far less stable than permanent jobs. This higher instability could potentially lower workers’ incentives to relocate towards the workplace, thereby resulting in longer ...commutes. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between temporary employment and commuting length. Building on the notion that individuals strive to optimize their utility when deciding where to work and live, we develop and test a theoretical framework that predicts commuting outcomes for different types of temporary workers – fixed-term, casual and temporary agency workers – and in different institutional contexts. We estimate fixed-effects regression models using 17 waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). As expected, the results show that the link between temporary employment and commuting length varies by employment type and institutional context. Agency work is associated with longer commutes than permanent work in both countries, whereas this applies to fixed-term contracts for Germany only. For casual work, the findings suggest no commuting length differential to permanent employment. In terms of policy, our findings suggest lengthy commuting can be a side effect of flexible labour markets, with potentially negative implications for worker well-being, transportation management and the environment.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The study’s significance lies in the need for comprehensive information on return labor migration from Russia to Kyrgyzstan and the profiles of return migrants, which would allow us to anticipate ...spatial mobility in the future. This is particularly relevant due to Russia’s interest in new migrants as essential labor force to address the demographic crisis. The Kyrgyzstani government also requires these data to prevent unemployment among return migrants. This paper aims to assess return migration dynamics and its structure, uncover the causes, goals, and reasons for recurrent migration to Russia, and examine the expectations of Russia’s social and migration policy during the special military operation. The empirical analytical base comprises the results of a questionnaire survey of 515 return migrants and focused in-depth interviews with 37 return migrants in Kyrgyzstan in October–November 2022, as well as a questionnaire survey of 425 labor migrants and focused interviews with 52 labor migrants in November–December 2022 in Moscow. The findings indicate that return migration is voluntary and spontaneous. The official estimate of the scope of return migration, as well as the prospects of labor migration to Russia after February 24th, 2022 and the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions, remains unclear. The structure of return migration aligns with the structure of labor migration in Russia in terms of gender, age, and employment sectors. The motivation behind the decision to return has a cumulative effect. However, most respondents cited personal and family issues as the main reasons for return migration. Approximately 30% of respondents, regardless of gender, attributed the special military operation and the worsening economic situation in Russia as reasons for returning to their home country. About 22% of respondents envision recurrent migration to Russia in the near future, while around 30% have not yet decided. Labor migrants seek institutional support from Russia, including assistance in preparing registration documents, social insurance provision, removal of administrative obstacles for employment, and the creation of favorable conditions for adaptation.
As mobility is increasingly reshaping social relations, understanding how it affects new forms of social exclusion is an important challenge in today's polarized societies. From a ...political‐psychological perspective, this challenge requires recognition of how identity processes linked to exclusion are significantly shaped by sociospatial mobility practices. Identity, mobility, and exclusion are at the core of the psychological experience of people living in segregated areas from where they are impelled to leave. Building on this argument, we present a qualitative case study based on ethnographic and narrative methods, which aimed to understand identity processes among young people who have lived most of their lives in four “stigmatized neighborhoods” in Santiago de Chile. The analysis indicated that young people navigate a paradoxical identity project in such neighborhoods, driven by contradictory cultural mandates. This case study contributes to knowledge on how sociospatial exclusion and the politics of mobility can manifest in the form of “identity trouble,” as young people struggle between belonging and running away, while attempting to maintain a coherent sense of self.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the spatial mobility of a major part of the population in many countries. For most people, this was an extremely disruptive shock, resulting in loss of ...income, social contact and quality of life. However, forced to reduce human physical interaction, most businesses, individuals and households developed new action lines and routines, and were gradually learning to adapt to the new reality. Some of these changes might result in long-term changes in opportunity structures and in spatial preferences for working, employment or residential location choice, and for mobility behavior. In this paper we aim to extend the time-geographic approach to analyzing people’s spatial activities, by focusing on health-related geographical mobility patterns during the pandemic in Sweden. Starting from a micro-approach at individual level and then looking at an aggregate urban scale, we examine the space-time geography during the coronavirus pandemic, using Hägerstrand’s time-geography model. We utilize a massive but (location-wise) fuzzy dataset to analyze aggregate spatiotemporal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic using a contemporary time-geographical approach. First, we address micro-level behavior in time-space to understand the mechanisms of change and to illustrate that a temporal drastic change in human mobility seems to be plausible. Then we analyze the changes in individuals’ mobility by analyzing their activity spaces in aggregate using mobile phone network data records. Clearly, it is too early for predicting long-term spatial changes, but a clear heterogeneity in spatial behavior can already be detected. It seems plausible that the corona pandemic may have long-lasting effects on employment centers, city roles and spatial mobility patterns.
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