Personal mobility
People are travelling further and more frequently in their everyday lives, and are relocating more often. The average commute increased by 17 % in the last decade [1]. The amount of people who stay in the same location in which they grew up is also decreasing considerably.
What are the implications?
- Changing family networks as families are more dispersed
- Looser geographical ties leading to a changing sense of community
- Longer commutes reducing free time (see time and energy deficit)
- Environmental impact of increased travel; in the future environmental concerns may impact on the ‘right to mobility’ (see climate change)
Moving forward
Weaker geographical and family ties could lead to a ‘responsibility gap’ - meaning that some more vulnerable people such as the elderly or the disabled may fall outside the care or responsibility of their family, community, VCOs or other governmental institutions.
- Is this increasing the need for the services that your organisation provides?
Longer commutes can impact on the free time that people have to volunteer or engage with VCOs.
- Does your organisation offer flexible opportunities to volunteers? (eg flexible hours or ‘job shares’)
- How can your organisation engage with local people in your community and encourage them to become more involved in community activities and projects?
Want to know more?
Published by: RAC – an independent motoring charity
Date: 2003
Format: Word.doc and Powerpoint.ppt
What is it? This presentation provides a range of statistics to discuss how people commute and how they make their choices about their journey.
How useful is this? Written from the perspective of a motoring organisation, this presentation contains useful information on current patterns of commuting including the type of transport used (particularly looking at reasons for car use) and aspects such as the length of journey. It also considers reasons for commuting and the numbers of homeworkers. It looks at possible measures, such as travel plans, to improve the negative effects of commuting.
Other comments:
Trends in Geographical Mobility in Britain
Published by: The Cabinet Office – a government department
Date: 2002
Format: PDF
What is it? A presentation providing a statistical overview of geographical mobility in Britain.
How useful is this? This is a useful source of facts and figures, providing data on: residential mobility within the UK; ‘North-south drift’; ‘Urban-rural shift’; selectivity by social group in ‘urban exodus’; the link between migration and social mobility; and the pivotal role of London.
Other comments:
Geographical mobility: family impacts
Published by: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation – a research and development charity
Date: 2006
Format: Web (summary – full report is available to purchase)
What is it? This is a summary of a report looking at the effects of job relocations on families.
How useful is this? This report focuses on the relocation aspect of personal mobility and outlines that geographical mobility presents a potential tension in relation to the government family and work-life balance policy. It explores factors including: why employers initiate relocation; who is more likely to relocate; the views of partners of relocating employees; impacts on career development; and long term impacts of family life. Key findings include that employees are increasingly likely to resist relocation by companies because of family ties and are more likely to set limits on relocation to achieve a work-life balance.
Other comments:
Going places: neighbourhood, ethnicity and social mobility
Published by: IPPR – a left of centre think tank
Date: 2006
Format: PDF
What is it? This book contains a set of essays exploring the links between social and geographical mobility.
How useful is this? This book looks at geographical mobility both within the UK and at migration into the UK. The introduction provides a good starting point, in particular exploring: the importance of geographical mobility to achieve social mobility; the affect of position in society on people’s need and ability to move; and the policy background. Some chapters focus more on social mobility, but Chapter 1 and 4 are particularly relevant to geographical mobility. Chapter 1 documents results of a US experiment to move people in public housing in high-poverty neighbourhoods to private rental housing in low-poverty neighbourhoods and Chapter 4 looks migration and social mobility.
Other comments:
RAC Foundation, ‘Commuting and travel choices’ 2003. (Henley centre driver on increasing personal mobility)[back]
Discuss
How will this affect your organisation? Have you considered it during your strategic planning? Can you share any interesting relevant links? Start the discussion by posting a comment here!
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