1162 | Residential (im)mobility in life course perspective – facets of residential change in Central and Eastern Europe in conceptual, empirical and methodological critical reflection. | Katarzyna Kajdanek (1)
This session invites proposals that advance our understanding of residential mobility and immobility in the life course perspective in Central and Eastern Europe in ways that are conceptually and theoretically rich, methodologically provoking, and empirically sound. Due to the scarcity of large sets of quantitative data from panel studies that would allow for a more systematic analysis of life courses of the residentially mobile in CEE (for comparison in the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden see: (Coulter et al., 2020; Falkingham et al., 2016; Fedorova et al., 2022; Fischer & Malmberg, 2001; Geist & McManus, 2008; Horowitz & Entwisle, 2021), this session aims to bring together researchers interested in life course perspectives applied to residential mobility in CEE.
The framework for this session is built on two pillars: 1) Concept of synchronous (concurring) urbanisation (Hierse et al., 2017; Humer et al., 2022; Smiraglia et al., 2021) which addresses and increasing gap between the traditional urban spatial cycle model (Rossi, 1980; van den Berg & Klaassen, 1980) and complex urban–regional forms, functions, and flows that take place in a post-modern realm. Due to changes in economic, demographic, social, and cultural arenas, not only do cities become embedded in multicentric metropolitan and networked regional structures, but also urban–suburban–rural relations are complemented with complex urban–urban (or core–core) relationships, and even hinterland–hinterland relations.
2) Life course perspective (in contrast to more traditional life cycles) allows us to capture the inter- and intra-individual facets of residential mobility as a biographical experience happening at various life stages. Residential (im)mobility in life course perspective is seen as structured by life events occurring (or not) at a specific time and in a specific order (Elder, 1998). Social geography and urban sociology perspectives on the life course highlight cultural factors, social circumstances, and social interactions as components of change, essential for understanding residential trajectories (Bernard, 2022; Bernardi et al., 2019; Elder, 1998; Mayer, 2018; Mulder & Hooimeijer, 1999; Stockdale & Catney, 2014; Webster et al., 2022). Such a deepened understanding of residential mobility, as one of the key biographical careers, becomes even more important in times of overlapping crises (polycrises) and acceleration of social processes.
Abstracts for papers looking into facets of concurring urbanization (suburbanization, counterurbanization, and reurbanization) using life course perspective, and applying qualitative and/or quantitative approaches and methods and focusing on CEE urban, metropolitan, and regional settings, also in comparison to western European structures, are welcome. The session welcomes presentations with clear reference to the main themes of the session, with relevant theoretical / conceptial, empirical and methodological contribution.The session will be held in English. Welcome!
Katarzyna Kajdanek (1)
(1) University of Wrocław, Chair of Urban and Rural Sociology
ID Abstract: