LIVRES

The Tourist Gaze, by John Urry

Javier Caletrío

25/03/2019

First published in 1990 and republished twice, *The Tourist Gaze*, by sociologist John Urry, is one of the major works on tourism. In this book, John Urry argues that the centrality of the visual in contemporary culture is mirrored in tourism, and that our desires to visit places and the ways we learn to visually appreciate those places are not merely individual and autonomous but are socially organised. Therefore, changes in tourism are necessarily related to wider transformations in society. Particularly relevant is the changing landscape of class, as not every social group has the same symbolic power to define legitimate forms of doing tourism.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Theories

NEW VOICES

Labor markets and circulation in India : new ways of life

Sébastien Michiels

21/02/2019

Although often studied as a homogenous phenomenon, migration practices are actually complex and multifaceted. Recognizing that migration takes many different forms was the underlying premise of this thesis. The purpose of this research was therefore to explore how structural changes have reshaped the organization of labor in India and how migratory practices adapt and readjust themselves to these new and evolving structures of the labor markets.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Policies, Theories

NEW VOICES

The Rise of run-commuting

Simon Cook

07/02/2019

This research offered a geographical provocation in studying the use of running as a form of transport. Although rarely thought about in such terms, running is a surprisingly common and important contemporary mode of transport globally !

Thematics : Lifestyles, Theories

SOUTHERN DIARIES

Mototaxis in Lima: an example of a successful coexistence between paratransit and official transportation

Hugo Plas

22/11/2018

Lima, the capital of Peru, ranks among the 35 biggest urban areas in the world and is the fifth largest in Latin America. But this growth quickly put a stress on Lima’s urban systems, creating problems with transportation. While it will take decades to develop a public transportation network that spans the entire urban area, the mototaxi could - thanks to its adaptability - accompany this evolution.

Thematics : Lifestyles

NEW VOICES

What Spaces for Highly Mobile People?

Bruna Vendemmia

29/10/2018

In recent years the availability of ICT and the diffusion of fast means of transport have radically changed mobility practices, reducing the impact of spatial distance on mobile people. This research aims to investigate spatial transformations arising from emerging mobility practices, and locates its theoretical background in the field of mobilities studies.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Policies, Theories

NEW VOICES

Hanoi, a metamorphosis : from bicycles to motorbikes

Arve Hansen

17/09/2018

In order to understand contemporary mobilities, we must acknowledge the overwhelmingly widespread use of motorbikes in Southern countries, a surprisingly overlooked subject in the *mobilities turn*. Arve Hansen's thesis takes us to Vietnam, to the streets of Hanoi, the city of motorbikes.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Policies

LIVRES

Automobile dependence Symptoms, analyses, diagnosis, treatment, by Gabriel Dupuy (1999)

Caroline Gallez

04/09/2018

Why and how has the car become an indispensable mode of transportation in most countries of the world? The book’s goal is summed up by the key words in its title: it is to conceptualize the notion of automobile dependence, to characterize the social and spatial dimensions of this phenomenon and to discuss what leeway and tools public authorities have in seeking to regulate it.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Policies, Theories

OPINIONS

The flying less movement

Javier Caletrío

19/07/2018

Compared to the cacophony of disparate voices praising the virtues of driving less, cycling and walking, calls for rethinking our flying habits have until recently been few and far between. Yet the number of advocates of ‘flying less’ has been steadily growing for more than a decade. As their voices begin to echo further afield, they have turned what was until recently a rather niche debate into a movement reshaping the way we think of air travel. Who are these people and what is their message?

OPINIONS

From Constructed Scarcity and Mobility Austerity towards Mobility Commons?

18/07/2018

We’ve got a lack of space in the city, we’ve got a lack of space on the road and we’ve got a lack of space… it’s a strange metaphor, but – a lack of space in the air…let’s say… CO2.

Sustainable mobility consultant, the Netherlands

Thematics : Policies, Theories

OPINIONS

Robert Smithson and the gold rush

Guillaume Logé

17/07/2018

It is alongside a highway under construction that we find Robert Smithson, whose work we analyzed in the previous post . Where does this long expanse of asphalt the construction equipment is unfurling actually lead? What does it tell us about the way we develop? What drives us to build it?

OPINIONS

Future London: Sustaining the Unsustainable? A Book Review

16/07/2018

In November 2014 I visited the launch of the book “Sustainable London? The Future of a Global City” co-edited by Loretta Lees (University of Leicester) and Rob Imrie (Goldsmiths, University of London). One thought was repeated by most speakers: “sustainable development” discourse in London on closer examination turns out to be about “sustaining the unsustainable”.

OPINIONS

Periodizing Mobilities and Scales of Transition.

16/07/2018

A Guardian report on April 30^th 2015 suggested that the US, UK and other advanced economies might have reached or passed their point of peak car use.[1] The economic crash of 2008 meant that car traffic, growing since cars were invented, plateaued and fell.

Thematics : Lifestyles, Policies, Theories