On Monday 2nd February, Disruption project PhD student David Williams successfully passed his PhD viva subject to minor corrections.
His thesis is entitled “Social Practice Theory and Sustainable Mobility: An Analysis of the English Local Transport Planning as a System of Provision”
On 30th January, Greg, Caroline and Tim spent the afternoon with York City Council, holding a workshop for members of the transport team to test and develop the ‘Flexi-mobility’ concept.
The workshop generated a lot of useful and productive discussion around the concept, and it was generally thought of to be a useful and constructive contribution towards the sustainable transport debate.
On 6th January, Tim gave a presentation on ‘Flexi-mobility: Helping LAs Unlock Low Carbon Travel’ at the Universities’ Transport Studies Group Annual Conference at City University in London.
A copy of the accompanying paper can be downloaded here Chatterton et al (2015) Flexi-Mobility-Helping Local Authorities Unlock Low Carbon Travel
On 15th December, Tim gave a presentation at UWE on ‘Flexi-mobility: Helping LAs Unlock Low Carbon Travel’, and David gave one on “Social Practice Theory and Sustainable Mobility: An Analysis of the English Local Transport Planning as a System of Provision” as part of the Centre for Transport and Society’s annual Winter conference at the University of the West of England.
On 9th December, Tim gave a presentation on Flexi-mobility at the ActTravelWise annual conference in Birmingham.
More information on Act TravelWise can be found here: http://www.acttravelwise.org/
On 25th of February, Tim was invited to give a presentation on the Flexi-mobility conference to Bristol City Council’s transport team.
The Disruption project has published a draft Green Paper today about the concept of ‘Flexi-mobility’ that has arisen out of our research findings.
Much great detail can be found at our new engagement website www.fleximobility.solutions, but in short:
Flexi-mobility is a way of thinking that recognises that almost everyone gets around by a range of transport options. Some of the time. At some points in their life.
Flexi-mobility supports the development of more flexible travelers and systems which allow for more flexibility in whether and how we get about. On this website we set out a vision where it is normal for people to consider making journeys by a range of modes.
Flexi-mobility builds on existing social trends, technological change and a recognition that lock-in to our existing policies will not solve the environmental, health, economic and social challenges we face.
Karolina Doughty and Lesley Murray have just had a paper published in the journal Mobilities on “Discourses of Mobility: Institutions, Everyday Lives and Embodiment. The paper is open access and can be downloaded for free from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2014.941257
Doughty, K., & Murray, L. (2014). Discourses of Mobility: Institutions, Everyday Lives and Embodiment. Mobilities, 1-20. DOI:10.1080/17450101.2014.941257
Abstract:
This article seeks to contribute to the growing body of literature on the politics of mobility, revealing the ways in which the governing of mobility intersects with everyday mobile lives. We suggest that dominant and enduring institutional discourses of mobility, which are pervaded by a privileging of individualised automobility, can be conceptualised around a framework of morality, modernity and freedom. By examining everyday discourses of mobility in this context we highlight the ways in which these discourses reflect and resist normative sets of knowledge and practices. It is argued that by emphasising the everyday and mundane in an analysis of discourses of mobility, and acknowledging their situatedness in prevailing normative discourses, we are then able to focus on how movement is a social and cultural practice in constant negotiation and (re)production.
Moel Cass and James Faulconbridge made a presentation at the 2014 RGS-IGB conference in London. The presentation looked at the ‘practice’ of commuting and suggested the need for policy to:
The presentation can be downloaded here: http://www.disruptionproject.net/?attachment_id=457
On Thursday 3rd October, The ESRC project “Sustainable Flood Memories” led by Professor Lindsey McEwan at the University of the West of England will be holding a conference at the Gloucester Guildhall on Sustainable flood memories and the development of community resilience to future flood risk.
The conference will explore the nature of flood memory and its relationship to the development of local knowledge for increased community resilience to local flood risk. The event represents part of the 30 month ESRC Sustainable Flood Memories project, which has worked with communities and organisations in the lower Severn valley in the aftermath of the July 2007 floods. In particular, the event will reflect on:
• how communities remember and archive flood experiences
• how these memories are materialised, assimilated, embedded and protected in contemporary communities and culture
• how sustainable flood memories might have a particular role in developing community resilience to residual risk
• how communities themselves and organisations charged with flood resilience planning can engage with, and support, development of sustainable flood memories
More details about the conference and project can be found here:
http://insight.glos.ac.uk/researchmainpage/centres/csfc/sfm/Pages/default.aspx