You will find here the various research projects of the Mobile Lives Forum:

The Mobile Lives Forum’s research program

is in keeping with the perspective of the “mobility turn.” Its aim is to study mobility in relation to lifestyles and territories.

Digital Nomads in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Digital Nomads in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ongoing research

No longer deciding where you live based on where you work – that is the choice made by digital nomads, the traveling workers of the 21st century. With a reliance on information and communication technologies (ICTs), their geographic and financial independence serves as the foundation for a way of life that inextricably combines work, travel, consumption and leisure. How has the Covid-19 epidemic affected their lifestyles? What are the possible evolutions of digital nomadism in the post-Covid-19 world? What can they teach us about the future of work, travel, consumption and leisure?

Keywords : lifestyle, Work, travel, covid-19
Research participants : Maurie Cohen, Laura Stanik

28 hours per week: The mobility and energy implications of working time reduction (WTR) in Germany

Ongoing research

In 2018 German metal industry workers won the right to reduce their working week from 35 to 28 hours. As with similar schemes elsewhere, sustainability commentators have highlighted the potential of working time reduction not just to achieve a better work-life balance but also to reduce energy consumption by reducing overall material consumption. This research project examines the desirability and sustainability of this scheme, paying particular attention to the conditions under which reduced working hours can produce social and environmental benefits. What are the participants’ aspirations? What are the impacts on their mobility and lifestyle? Is the reduction of direct and indirect energy consumption as significant as expected?

Keywords : Travail; marché du travail; temps de travail; mode de vie
Research participants : Miklós Antal, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Thiago Guimarães Rodrigues, Barbara Plank

Understanding the behaviour of hypermobile tourists

Ongoing research

International tourism has grown considerably in recent decades, partly as a result of the growth of low-cost airlines which have become an essential sector of the global economy and a regular feature in our way of life. And yet, the explosion of tourism and in particular of air travel raises some environmental concerns. Given that 5% of French people alone contributed in 2006 to 50% of greenhouse gas emissions from tourism, the Mobile Lives Forum wanted to explore the lifestyles of hypermobile tourists. Who are they? What is the environmental impact of their mobility? To what extent and under what conditions would they be willing to change their habits to reduce their carbon footprint?

Keywords : tourism; hypermobility; environment
Research participants : Isabelle Frochot, Véronique Mondou, Philippe Violier, Céline Pellerin, Samuel Bates

Personal carbon allowances for travel: is it possible, fair and desirable?

Ongoing research

Transport is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in France, and this figure is constantly increasing. Technological innovations and the push for a “modal shift” aren’t enough to compensate for the increasing number of oil-fuelled kilometers travelled. Pesonal carbon allowances are presented as an alternative to taxation. These would allow us to acknowledge and respect the planet’s limits, distribute energy resources equitably and pursue public policies that respond to this new environmental state of affairs. Such allowances applied to polluting travel could take the form of a carbon card and be distributed according to democratically defined criteria. Would such a proposal be possible, fair and desirable?

Keywords : carbon footprint, carbon credit, carbon card
Research participants : Arnaud Passalacqua, Workshop Master AIED University of Paris

Being a bicycle delivery rider: passion or exploitation?

Ongoing research

In recent years, takeaway delivery has exploded, in a context where consumer practices are changing, last-mile logistics are being reorganized and environmental issues are growing. Many freelance delivery riders have jumped on the bandwagon, employed by large companies such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Stuart. The Mobile Lives Forum wanted to understand who these delivery riders are and what their experience is in this mobile business, divided between the attractiveness of an outdoor activity with a lot of autonomy and flexibility, and the pressure of employers to meet efficiency requirements.

Keywords : cycling, Work, lifestyle, hypermobility, uberisation
Research participants : Juliette Maulat, Master 2 Aménagement du Territoire et Urbanisme Université Paris 1

The mobility/immobility of homeless people in the public space of Bordeaux

Ongoing research

“Homeless people” are often subject to stereotypes and generalizations that don’t take into account the increasing diversity of situations that result from new kinds of poverty and poor housing. Studies on their needs and aspirations in terms of dwelling and mobility are often misinterpreted or based on standards that aren’t appropriate for them. This research, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of students in political science and architecture in Bordeaux, seeks to understand the mobility and immobility of people who don’t have access to a private place of dwelling and intimacy, and the reasons why these practices come up against normative injunctions emanating from a variety of actors.

Keywords : SDF, Immobility, questions sociales, Public Policy
Research participants : Projet collectif SciencesPo/Architecture Bordeaux

Mobilities and externalities in Nova Scotia’s local food movement

Ongoing research

Local food movements argue that a reduction of food-miles has positive social, environmental and economic impacts. A full account of the costs of food production, however, needs to go beyond the path from food to plate and consider the wider set of translocal social and economic relations involved in local food production. Using a multi-method, ethnographic approach, this project examines the costs of local food production with special attention on the international labour migration that sustains Nova Scotia’s agricultural sector.

Keywords : proximity;agriculture;local;consumption;canada
Research participants : Catherine Bryan, Elizabeth Fitting, Karen Foster

Leaving/returning: how people remotely manage their homes

Finished research

The “leaving and returning” project, combining the two themes of mobility and "dwelling", focuses on the temporary physical absence of people from their homes. What links do they maintain with their homes when they are on the move? What consequences do these mobilities have on the social and spatial organization of their homes? Being able to peacefully leave home and experience a pleasurable mobility depends on the individuals’ profile, their expectations with regard to their travels and a learning-curve that is almost a skill in its own right, in a world where travelling has often become the norm.

Keywords : residential mobility, home, High mobility, Leroy Merlin
Research participants : Hortense Soichet , Benjamin Pradel

Slowing down: Yes, but why, what and how?

Research notes

In 2018, the Mobile Lives Forum launched a day-long workshop on people’s desire to slow down, a desire that came to light in the international survey on aspirations for mobility and lifestyles. The findings we are publishing here take on a particular significance today, particularly because of the health crisis linked to Covid-19, through the need to regulate telework or the need to think differently about the spatial distribution of activities, demonstrating that it is time to rethink our rhythms of life and mobilities, and to (re)claim a balance between our social life, family life and professional life.

Keywords : slow, lifestyles, paces, rhythms
Research participants : Jean-Yves Boulin

Reducing the carbon footprint of mobility: what are the right policies for France?

Finished research

In 2019, transport accounted for 30% of greenhouse gases in France, discounting international travel. Far from being under control, these emissions have continued to rise, unlike those of other economic sectors, increasing by 11% since the 1990s. When the National Low-Carbon Strategy (or SNBC, for Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone) was implemented in 2015 to cut transport-related emissions by a factor of 33 by 2050, the message was: we’re taking note of the problem and ambitiously rising to the challenge. Five years on, can we say that a real “mobility transition” is under way in France?

Keywords :
Research participants : Pierre Bocquillon , Caroline Bouloc, Laure Cazeaux, Damien Masson, Jean-Baptiste Frétigny

Autonomous vehicles: what role do they have in the mobility transition?

Ongoing research

At a time when companies and governments are pouring their energy into the search for innovation, autonomous vehicles seem to embody the epitome of an innovation that promises to revolutionize the future of the automobile. Around the world, the progress made by Google and Uber as well as the announcements of American, European and Asian manufacturers are being closely monitored and covered by the media. In this context, the Mobile Lives Forum commissioned La Fabrique Ecologique, a French environmental think tank, to study whether autonomous vehicles can be part of the transition to a more sustainable world.

Keywords : Voiture autonome; mobilité durable; mobilité du futur; transition; automobile
Research participants : La Fabrique Écologique

Removing Paris’ périphérique ring road: towards more sustainable and desirable lifestyles?

Finished research

For the 2020 Paris municipal elections, many proposals and claims were made on the future of the périphérique, the 35 km ring road around Paris: removing it, redesigning it as a main road with traffic lights, creating green spaces, making several dedicated lanes to promote different modes of transport, etc. The Mobile Lives Forum wanted to explore the option of totally removing it. What consequences would this have on the Parisian, metropolitan and regional scale? Under what conditions could this removal be part of a transition towards more desired and sustainable lifestyles?

Keywords :
Research participants : Professional Workshop Urban Planning and Development, Jean Debrie

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