Mobility across the life course: an introduction to a dialogue

Mobility has become a cornerstone of modern life today, with participation in economic, social and cultural events and activities being largely inconceivable without some form of travel. Both the extension of daily activity spaces and inter-regional residential relocation have contributed to economic growth, the spatial division of labour, specialisation, cultural and social integration and, perhaps most importantly in the context of this book, changes in people’s life courses. At the same time, the downsides of increasing and accelerating mobility for society and the environment are increasingly evident, not least in the context of current climate change debates that identify the transport sector as a major greenhouse gas emitter and, more generally, contributor to unsustainable ways of life. The expansion of activity spaces and significant shifts in mobility culture over the past century are inextricably linked to dramatic changes in transport systems and infrastructure, including the growing dominance of the private car, increases in air travel, the development of high-speed trains and, most recently, the emergence of ICT-enabled sharing systems, new propulsion technologies, the virtualisation of many daily activities and autonomous vehicles. At the same time, these developments have presented unprecedented challenges for transport policy, in particular given that transport growth has come at high environmental, social and (external) economic costs. For example, links between public health, social exclusion and car dependency are only now being recognised as major sustainability challenges, with significant implications for both social and transport policies (Hodgson et al., 2012; Jones and Lucas, 2012; Milne, 2012; Mattioli et al., 2019). As mentioned previously, changes in mobility have also contributed to dramatic changes in life courses. This refers to the life stages to be passed through, their sequence and ordering, and the kinds of socio-cultural meanings people and societies bestow upon them. For example, in many societies