Transport geography – Eugeo 9th Congress

Present-day urban mobility transitions are often hailed for their positive contributions towards healthier, safer, and more just common futures. Micro-mobilities are playing a key role here: many cities have seen a rapid entry and growth of (e-)cycles and (e-)scooters, for instance. At the same time, emerging evidence shows that micro-mobility trips do not often replace unhealthy, unsafe, and private travel modes, and that different urban populations do not have equal access to its availability (Laa & Leth, 2020; Wang et al., 2022). This means that micro-mobilities do not live up to their promise as transformative forms of urban transport.
Literature on the subject argues that mobility innovations have not taken enough account of the diversity of its (potential) users, are predominantly directed by neoliberal and commercial interests, and/or reproduce infrastructural networks and mobility behaviours shaped by car-centric thought (Spinney, 2022). In addition, socio-technical and political structures have not always been supportive or responsive to the appearance of new players in urban spaces. Also socially, micro-mobility innovations are exclusive to children, women, and older people, among other groups, although research taking gender-sensitive and feminist perspectives has also proposed how to overcome this challenge (Cubells et al., 2023; Goel et al., 2022).
Together, emerging perspectives on micro-mobility provide a useful picture of their current state and potential, but do not often lead to wider theoretical and cross-disciplinary applicability. The proposed session therefore aims to join the ends of mobility research involving micro-mobilities and provide new perspectives on existing theories and practices. Contributions may analyse specific cities, provide an overview of the state-of-the-art around specific micro-mobility options, and/or place them within wider (re-)constructions and uses of the built environment (e.g. traffic calming, new-built infrastructures, mobility patterns and performances). Both qualitative and quantitative approaches to their changing geographies are welcomed, as well as critical approaches to the place and operationalisation of micro-mobilities in urban transport geography. Topic suggestions include:

Inclusion of social groups and demographic characteristics in micro-mobility;
Micro-mobilities’ characteristics affecting usability and accessibility (soft and hard infrastructures, urban form, systems, technologies);
Performances and uses of micro-mobility in cities, with a focus on (co-existence of) specific modes;
Effects of the introduction and promotion of micro-mobilities, on both users and non-users;
Changes in mobility behaviours and modal shares;
Growth orientations of urban mobility futures including micro-mobility options;
Outcomes of policies and practices that support micro-mobility and/or create healthier, safer, and more just urban mobility futures.
Our session is intended as presentation session, but depending on the available time we may consider a short roundtable with the speakers at the end. The main language of the session would be English, but presentations in Spanish and Catalan are welcomed too.

Wilbert Den Hoed (1); Esther Anaya Boig (2)
(1) Universitat Rovira i Virgili, (2) Imperial College London

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IPCC (2022) estimates that the transport sector accounted for 15% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) direct emissions in 2019. The contribution of this sector to climate is progressively increasing in absolute terms due to growing traffic (more and longer trips), the predominance of the least-efficient transport modes (cars, vans, trucks and planes), as well as the slow pace of innovation.
Whilst the spotlight is generally on efficiency (e.g., emissions per passenger/kilometre), distance is a crucial geographical concept at the core of transport geography and by extension, it is a major factor influencing GHG emissions and climate footprint. All other things being equal, distance travelled directly affects energy consumption. However, during the last few years, transport environmental policy has been primarily centred on short-distance travel and urban/regional mobilities. This has significantly improved people’s lives and local air quality, but has not been enough to curb the growing GHG emissions.
Considering the context above, this special session explores the relationships among three aspects: transport, distance and climate change. All scales (from urban areas to the global), transport modes, passenger motivations (including tourism mobilities and goods may be considered for the session.
Potential topics include:

Is there a linear relationship between distance travelled and climate footprint?
Cycling and flying – personal responsibilities and contradictions inherent in balancing the climate consequences of transport mode choice for daily mobilities and leisure/tourism-based travel.
Tourism as a driver of long-haul flight emissions.
Replacement of short-haul flights with rail services as a possible means to reduce aviation’s contribution to climate change – can high-speed rail contribute to making aviation ‘greener’?
Current and future feasible alternatives to long-haul travel.
Likelihood of behavioural change in relation to long-haul travel – is price the only filter?
The environmental (in)efficiency of airport charges and specific aviation taxes against distance flown.
The relationship between social class, distance travelled and GHG emissions.
Buying local or buying global? The climate impact of global e-commerce platforms. Under the auspices of the IGU Commission on Geography of Tourism, Leisure, and Global Change and the IGU Commission on Transport & Geography.

Dobruszkes Frédéric (1); Suau-Sanchez Pere (2,3); Wilson Julie (3)
(1) Brussels Free University (ULB), (2) Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, (3) Cranfield University

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Tag Archive for: Transport geography

1145 | Transport, tourism and climate change: The tyranny of distance travelled | Dobruszkes Frédéric (1); Suau-Sanchez Pere (2,3); Wilson Julie (3)