Mobility Justice Symposium 2022

We acknowledge that the University of Wollongong campuses sit amongst the traditional lands of the Wadi Wadi, Wandandian, Walbunga, Djirrangani, Gandangara and Gadigal peoples who share kinship across several Nations and language groups including Yuin, Dharawal and Eora, the recognised traditional owners and custodians of these lands.

The Geographical Society of New South Wales (GSNSW) in collaboration with the Australian Mobilities Research Network (AusMob), and the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space (ACCESS) invites you to join us for a dynamic 2-day symposium created with early- and mid-career researchers in mind.

⫸ About this event

This year, many of us are reflecting on the remarkable impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on our personal, social and professional lives. The worldwide hiatus in mobility caused significant disruption resulting in unemployment, supply chain shortages, social isolation, disruptions to business and economic downturns. Many began to work from home, to order in, and to walk and cycle. Public transport use decreased and pop-up cycling lanes appeared.

These adapted practices brought to light some of the hidden aspects of mobility justice. Essential workers, often those in precarious employment, were exposed to higher levels of risk from Covid-19 because they did not have the option to work from home. The pandemic, while catastrophic, has provided an opportunity for us to reflect on the importance of freedom of movement for everyday life and what this means in a world of overlapping crises.

⫸ We invite you to submit an abstract (150 words max) that addresses the theme of mobility justice, broadly conceived. Possible topics of discussion include:

• Gender and transport/mobility

• Workplaces, home spaces, commuting

• Integrating people with physical disabilities into the transport landscape

• Cycling and infrastructure in an automobility regime

• Underlying assumptions of smart city design

• Climate change adaptation and mobility

• Theoretical and conceptual approaches to mobility

• Methodological implications

Please submit your abstract to [mailto:tharada@uow.edu.au%3cmailto:tharada@uow.edu.au]tharada@uow.edu.au tharada@uow.edu.au by the end of the 15th May 2022.

⫸ Details

The symposium will happen in a hybrid form:

Mornings: online (via Zoom) and in-person paper presentations
Afternoons: in-person only workshops and infra-labs 
 

We will start on Monday, 9am, with the Welcome to Country by local Indigenous Elders. Over the two days, you will hear from leading and emerging academics in the field of mobilities research, have an opportunity to present your research, workshop ideas with fellow researchers, receive mentorship, and have the option to participate in several ‘infra-labs’ on site. As a part of the symposium format, we will select papers to include in a special issue of Australian Geographer.

⫸ Keynotes*

Mimi Sheller, Inaugural Dean of The Global School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute;

Carol Farbotko, The University of Melbourne

*(online presentations via Zoom)

⫸ Registration and student travel grants

• Free registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/mobility-justice-symposium-2022-tickets-273965065887

• Covid vaccination certificate required

• A limited number of $250 student bursaries are available. To apply, please email [mailto:tharada@uow.edu.au%3cmailto:tharada@uow.edu.au]tharada@uow.edu.au tharada@uow.edu.au 1) a 200-word description of your broader research project and how it relates to the themes of the workshop and 2) a budget outline of how you will spend the funds. Priority will be given to those presenting.

⫸ Convenors and enquires

Theresa Harada https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/theresa_harada (University of Wollongong); David Bissell https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/792958-david-bissell (University of Melbourne); Elisabetta Crovara https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/cities/about/our-people/elisabetta-crovara (University of Melbourne); Tom Fisher https://www.uow.edu.au/the-arts-social-sciences-humanities/research/access/people/thomas-fisher/ (University of Wollongong).

For enquiries, please contact Theresa Harada tharada@uow.edu.au

Mobility

For the Mobile Lives Forum, mobility is understood as the process of how individuals travel across distances in order to deploy through time and space the activities that make up their lifestyles. These travel practices are embedded in socio-technical systems, produced by transport and communication industries and techniques, and by normative discourses on these practices, with considerable social, environmental and spatial impacts.

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Movement

Movement is the crossing of space by people, objects, capital, ideas and other information. It is either oriented, and therefore occurs between an origin and one or more destinations, or it is more akin to the idea of simply wandering, with no real origin or destination.

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