Lotta Frändberg

Personal Mobility: A Corporeal Dimension of Transnationalisation. The Case of Long-Distance Travel from Sweden

Mobility is a key concept within recent social theorising on globalisation, transnationalisation of social relations, and new divisions of society. Mobility growth is also central to issues of global warming and the need for sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to elucidate empirically some properties of recent developments in international mobility. A theoretically informed understanding of changing patterns of long-distance travel is briefly outlined. This understanding is confronted with empirical findings concerning the actual development of international travel from Sweden during the 1990s. The findings confirm expected trends of further increasing intensity, extensity, and velocity in long-distance mobility. A tendency towards globalisation is observed, though an intraregional transnationalisation is the dominant process at work. It is concluded that an increasing short-term flexibilisation in peoples use of time and space is a more important driving force behind the transnationalisation of mobility, than is the geographical extension of more enduring social relations. Influencing factors behind the social division of mobility are addressed by identifying the hypermobile segment of the population. Implications for the wider issues of globalisation and environmental sustainability are discussed.

PATHS IN TRANSNATIONAL TIME‐SPACE: REPRESENTING MOBILITY BIOGRAPHIES OF YOUNG SWEDES

Abstract. This article sets out to capture and describe individual transnational mobility from a long‐term, biographical perspective. The purpose is to discuss the use of a time‐geographical form of notation to represent peoples transnational mobility as paths in time and space, and to demonstrate how such representations can contribute to explaining some of the dynamics of longdistance mobility. An advantage of using time‐space paths is that several aspects of an individuals travel biography can be represented in a single image: intensity and extensity are immediately evident, and the temporal and spatial relationships between the various mobility actions are made visible. Using data describing all transnational trips taken during childhood and adolescence by sixty‐two Swedish youth with different backgrounds, three aspects of how trajectories develop over time are discussed in more detail. The first concerns overall change in travel pattern with time. A dominant pattern of increase in travel with increasing age is observed, indicating the importance of further investigating how travel behaviour is related to experience and life‐course transitions. Second, sequential relationships between migration and temporary mobility are examined. In spite of the relatively small number of respondents, a wide range of such relationships are disclosed in the material. Third, regularity and repetition in long‐distance travel patterns is discussed as an increasingly important aspect of contemporary transnational mobility. Among these young people, highly regular travel is often motivated by enduring long‐distance social relationships, but is also generated by leisure or holiday travel alone.

Temporary Transnational Youth Migration and its Mobility Links

ABSTRACT Going abroad to live, work, or study for a period when young has become increasingly widespread. An important aspect of this development is the longer-term consequences for mobility at the individual and population levels. The present article explores the specific connections – the ‘mobility links’ – between temporary stays abroad and other mobility events in the early life course. The paper is based on a retrospective study of transnational moves and mobility among young adults in Gothenburg, Sweden. The results identify two main forms of consequential mobility: first, ‘secondary’ travel during the stay between two places linked by a move and, second, patterns of regular travel back to the place of temporary stay in following years, mainly because of new social ties formed.

Compromising sustainable mobility? The case of the Gothenburg congestion tax

Congestion charging is widely considered an effective policy measure to regulate and reduce car traffic demand and associated environmental and health problems in cities. However, introducing restrictive measures to constrain individual choice and behaviour for the common good has often proven difficult. Using a specific case, the Gothenburg congestion tax introduced in 2013, we study the policy process behind the introduction of the tax and assess to what extent green values were compromised along the way. The tax was made possible by co-financing infrastructure investments, including roads, which seemingly contradicts stated goals of reducing car traffic and emissions. We show how the tax was ‘muddled through’ in a top-down political compromise by a grand coalition where different interests could legitimate their support in relation to the achievement of partially conflicting objectives and projects. However, to declare the regulatory goals fully neutralised would be to underestimate the schemes direct environmental effects and restrictive potential. Finding a compromise with powerful political and economic interests was necessary to get it off the ground. Once launched, however, it can over time regain its restrictive properties and lead to more profound long-term effects.

Activities and Activity Patterns Involving Travel Abroad while Growing up: The Case of Young Swedes

Abstract Departing from ongoing discussions concerning the changing role and motive structure of transnational mobility among ordinary people, this article investigates activities and activity patterns motivating travel abroad among a group of Swedish youth. Using retrospective travel data covering the years of childhood and adolescence of 140 individuals, three specific issues are addressed: (a) the extent to which travel abroad has become part of a broad range of activities; (b) the role of travel in relation to school and other organized activities; (c) the occurrence and forms of repetitive travel behaviour. The most important findings concern repetitive travel behaviour: a little less than half of the respondents have highly repetitive travel patterns as regards activity or purpose of travel. Moreover, about two thirds of the repetitive travel patterns are largely or completely dominated by trips to the same country of destination. Many are motivated by visiting relatives abroad but the majority are motivated by leisure activities seemingly unrelated to the spatial configuration of social relationships.

Spatial, generational and gendered trends and trend-breaks in mobility

Long-term trends and potential trend conversions in mobility are addressed, with special focus on the Swedish population. Consistent with observations of “peak travel” reported from other countries, we find that growth in everyday travel has recently stagnated and declined. Trends differ significantly between demographic groups. At a general level, there is a tendency towards (upward) convergence between women and men and a shift in travel volumes from young to old age groups. The daily travel by young women has been rather constant, for men under 45 years old it has been reduced, and in the youngest age group the decline is substantial. The observed travel reductions among young indicate that car-intensive lifestyles may not be strongly structurally determined. The implications for sustainable travel partly depend on travel development at higher time-spatial scales. The fact that intermittent transnational mobility has grown rapidly, not least among the young age groups, suggests a substitution of international travel for national travel.