Defining motility: the uses, operationalisations and limits of a concept

The aim of this review is to examine the definition and use of the concept of motility. Based on published and unpublished literature in the humanities and social sciences to date, the PRISMA method has been used. The Google Scholar electronic database was consulted in French and English. This concept has been the subject of empirical research and theoretical criticism. Among the 60 references selected, the literature reveals changes in the definition of motility and criticisms of the scope and measurement of the concept. Motility corresponds to an entity’s ability to move from one place to another within a social and spatial space. It can be used to study motivations for travel and inequalities in mobility, depending on socio-demographic conditions and context. This concept is widely applied to qualitative studies, and less so to quantitative ones. Its definition has been enriched between 2002 and the present day. Its three-dimensional composition (access, skills, appropriation) remains the subject of consensus, although there are divergences between the theory and its operationalisation. Other questions about the link between mobility and motility remain unanswered. Finally, control plays a key role in motility, while influencing mobility choices and experiences with predictive potential for daily mobility.