Anja Jørgensen

Mobile Forms of Belonging

Abstract Mobility is often portrayed as the antithesis of belonging. In this article, we challenge this perspective investigating how mobility and motility influence belonging in everyday life. We develop a perspective on belonging consisting of the dimensions of mobility, people and place and conditioned by the underlying dimensions of time, resources and structures of meaning. Applying this to interview material from a case study in Aalborg, we propose a tentative typology of mobile forms of belonging. It is discussed how different rhythms, conditions of mobility and variations in mobility resources result in different scales of belonging and modes of ‘centering’.

The Sense of Belonging in New Urban Zones of Transition

In most modern sociological literature, it is a rarity to find analyses suggesting that social bonds and the sense of belonging can be strong in socially deprived areas. In the classic Chicago tradition of sociology, in the works of Park et al. and in Louis Wirth’s The Ghetto, residential areas are described both as places in which the social bonds are loose and places with strong bonds. However, a focal point in this article is that the sense of place and belonging are related to the type and the quality of local social bonds. The article discusses the sense of belonging in socially deprived areas by using and adapting classic concepts and insights of human ecology as formulated by the classical Chicago sociologists Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess. Recent sociological contributions about belonging and the sense of place, including recent empirical studies on the topic, are also addressed. It is argued that two socially deprived neighbourhoods with identical social profiles measured by traditional sociological variables as average income, educational level, unemployment, ethnicity, welfare benefits, etc. can be very different when it comes to local community and local social networks.

The life and influence of the 1925th Chicagomap

Abstract This article traces the life and influence of the 1925th Chicagomap produced by Ernest Watson Burgess. The map was produced as part of the work of the Chicago school of Sociology evolving around identifying and decoding the various types of local communities and identifying zones characterized by less attachment and community. Once produced the 1925th Chicagomap and the thoughts behind it gets a life of their own. This article examine how the map and the thoughts behind it occur in different geographical contexts, amongst various urban scholars and in newer research regarding the relation between local attachment and residential location, and the article concludes that the performativity of the map is very potent as it works by inspiring and supporting new maps as well as being a partner in conflicting dialog.