What moves us (tomorrow)?

Robert Schönduwe
Faster, further, more sustainable?
Mobility biographies of highly mobile persons

Abstract

The modern person is flexible and mobile. Decreasing mobility costs and shrinking spatial resistance have allowed a continuous growth of individual action areas in recent decades. No matter whether it is a long-distance relationship, commuting to a far removed workplace or a second home for employment reasons: meanwhile certain population groups can only cope with occupational and private everyday life by means of regular long-distance journeys. Diverse social processes have traffic-inducing impacts. However, the dynamics of these processes have only been understood rudimentarily and can only be quantified insufficiently with existing data. But it would be very important to ask in what way highly mobile persons can be considered as mobility pioneers, whose activities provide clues about the future development of mobility and traffic events.

In this article, retrospectively collected development data are used to provide an insight into the mobility biographies of highly mobile persons. It is shown that the situation-adapted selection means of transport constitutes an important strategy particularly for younger highly mobile persons to cope with highly mobile everyday life.

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