mobility

'Mobilities' - John Urry

Towards the end of the summer, I started reading the book 'Mobilities' by John Urry, a professor of sociology at Lancaster University. With little knowledge of what mobility really meant before I started reading this book, I found the first chapter to be quite confusing as Urry constantly refers back and forth to his previous statements. He begins with explaining how important mobility is to our world, how we are almost addicted to it in a way that we can never look back. The book tells of how the term 'mobility' is such a broad subject and it is not just about the idea of travelling or how one can move from one place to another yet it is more about people themselves, the systems we use and how we depend on them. Urry expands upon the economic, social and political relationships of the world, showing that everyone has a different perception of what mobility really is.

Moving onto later chapters, Urry talks about the 'Mobilities Paradigm' – 'The term paradigm was derived from Kuhn's exemplary analysis of normal science, scientific exemplars and what constitutes scientific revolution'. Within this he analyses the way that the idea of mobility has transformed today's social sciences. Social solidarities determine human interaction – these intersect with immobile infrastructures such as pathways and radio. Urry refers to an author of social sciences named Georg Simmel a lot in which Simmel gave a 'Heidegger-ian' interpretation of the significance of mobility infrastructures. Simmel identifies that humans are the only species that requires a bridge/something to take us from one side to the other side of the river. He elaborates on the human imagination of conception – if our mind did not create the connection first, then the concept of separation would have no meaning.

From what I have read so far, I have found that Urry's take on Simmel is very interesting – looking at not just mobility but psychology too. It has also given me an insight as to how it can relate to our study of Stoke-on-Trent. What really needs to be understood is that mobilities is not just the art of travelling, a series of other factors must be considered too such as the systems that are created from 'mobility' itself and how this could/should affect our lives within society. It is not just the technologies that must be looked upon but the physical elements of it too.

If it is possible for anyone to get hold of this book, I would recommend you to read chapter 2 and 3 as a starter to the subject of 'mobility'.

Joanne Yu