Material Mobilities explores the material dimension of various forms of mobilities and its implications for society, politics and everyday experiences as well as investigates how materials themselves are on the move. Together the different contributions and perspectives on material mobilities illustrate how materialities are critical components within mobilities but also shape how mobilities are produced and consumed within contemporary mobile societies. This insight may potentially influence the ways disciplines of mobilities understand and approach mobilities in the future. This book exemplifies how the new Mobilities turn may profit from foregrounding materials, the material, and materiality as a common pivot for social analysis. During the last decade of research affiliated to the 'new mobilities turn' the societal repercussions of intensive mobilities has been in focus. The 'turn' has documented the social, environmental, economic, and cultural effects of the contemporary patterns of movement of people, vehicles, goods, data and information. In parallel with this work new ideas and concepts about the human/non-human and the 'material dimension' of the social world has surfaced within a wide array of fields such as philosophy, anthropology, and cultural studies. Material Mobilities offers a materially sensitive and focused attention to the new Mobilities turn. The 'turn to the material' opens up a new set of research questions related to how artefacts and technologies facilitating and affording mobilities are being designed, constructed, and instituted. The new material interest furthermore points at new ways of comprehending the political and the power-dimensions of mobilities and infrastructural landscapes. The turn to the material furthermore problematizes the Modern binary distinctions between humans and non-humans, subjects and objects, culture and nature.

This book offers the reader a comprehensive understanding and the multitude of methods utilized in the research of urban mobilities with cities and 'the urban' as its pivotal axis. It covers theories and concepts for scholars and researchers to understand, observe and analyse the world of urban mobilities. The Handbook of Urban Mobilities facilitates the understanding of urban mobilities within a historic conscience of societal transformation. It explores key concepts and theories within the 'mobilities turn' with a particular urban framework, as well as the methods and tools at play when empirical, urban mobilities research is undertaken. This book also explores the urban mobilities practices related to commutes; particular modes of moving; the exploration of everyday life and embodied practices as they manifest themselves within urban mobilities; and the themes of power, conflict, and social exclusion. A discussion of urban planning, public control, and governance is also undertaken in the book, wherein the themes of infrastructures, technologies and design are duly considered. With chapters written in an accessible style, this handbook carries timely contributions within the contemporary state of the art of urban mobilities research. It will thus be useful for academics and students of graduate programmes and post-graduate studies within disciplines such as urban geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, urban planning, traffic and transportation planning, and architecture and urban design.

This book offers the reader a comprehensive understanding and the multitude of methods utilized in the research of urban mobilities with cities and 'the urban' as its pivotal axis. It covers theories and concepts for scholars and researchers to understand, observe and analyse the world of urban mobilities. The Handbook of Urban Mobilities facilitates the understanding of urban mobilities within a historic conscience of societal transformation. It explores key concepts and theories within the 'mobilities turn' with a particular urban framework, as well as the methods and tools at play when empirical, urban mobilities research is undertaken. This book also explores the urban mobilities practices related to commutes; particular modes of moving; the exploration of everyday life and embodied practices as they manifest themselves within urban mobilities; and the themes of power, conflict, and social exclusion. A discussion of urban planning, public control, and governance is also undertaken in the book, wherein the themes of infrastructures, technologies and design are duly considered. With chapters written in an accessible style, this handbook carries timely contributions within the contemporary state of the art of urban mobilities research. It will thus be useful for academics and students of graduate programmes and post-graduate studies within disciplines such as urban geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, urban planning, traffic and transportation planning, and architecture and urban design.