Mobilities, Travel and Networks

Course goals

1. Students of the master programme Urban and Economic Geography or Human Geography (HUMM)
2. Students of master programmes International Development Studies (IDS) and Spatial Planning (SP). They will be admitted by drawing of lots. 

• identify different theories in the context of daily travel and mobilities;
• understand and analyse current developments in travel and mobility in the context of these theories;
• explain societal and policy implications of developments in mobilities and travel;
• apply the concepts in the course to analyse policy issues.

Content

This course builds on the introductory course Advanced Urban Geography. Apart from time-geography and relational approaches, engineering and economic approaches will be used to discuss recent developments in transportation and mobilities research, such as:

• Social exclusion, ‘motility’ and accessibility;
• Social networks and travel;
• Transition toward sustainable travel (socio-technical approach);
• New organisational forms of mobility (e.g. car sharing, Uber).

Theoretical concepts and empirical findings in these areas will be discussed, as well as implications for transport and urban policies. Students will apply concepts taught in this course to a case study, which includes analysis of secondary data sets, interviews and the formulation of policy recommendations.