Search results

Transportation planning has conventionally examined mobility from the standpoint of the efficiency of transportation systems, based on trips as units of analysis, overlooking the social needs of excluded groups, such as children. Understanding children’s geographies provides insight into one of the basic social needs of children, intrinsically related to mobility: play. Disadvantages in mobility, along with other social conditions further limit children’s autonomy in their neighbourhood. This chapter proposes the term playability as a concept that intertwines both needs. A case study of neighbourhood analyses the playability needs of children from their perspective and that of the community. Findings suggest that, in a walkable, built environment, issues from criminal activity directly influence children’s playability, even more than automobile presence. Furthermore, community perspective on playability, as mostly limited to structured play in designated spaces and time, separates mobility from play and thus limits opportunities for social inclusion. A change in both, acknowledging children’s need for play and mobility, and their reciprocity, and incorporating measures to improve it, may provide a different framework for transportation and urban planning at the local level, one that seeks greater social inclusion of children.

In public health and sustainable transport campaigns, walking is positioned as an important way families can become more active, fit and spend quality time together. However, few studies specifically examine how family members move together on-foot and how this is constitutive of individual and collective familial identities. Combining the notion of a feminist ethics of care with assemblage thinking, the chapter offers the notion of the familial walking assemblage as a way to consider the careful doing of motherhood, childhood and family on-foot. Looking at the walking experiences of mothers and children living in the regional city of Wollongong, Australia, the chapter explores how the provisioning and enactment of care is deeply embedded in the becoming of family on-the-move. The chapter considers interrelated moments of care – becoming prepared, together, watchful, playful, ‘grown up’ and frustrated – where mothers and children make sense of and enact their familial subjectivities. It is through these moments that the family as a performative becoming, that is always in motion, becomes visible. The chapter aims to provide further insights into the embodied experience of walking for families in order to better inform campaigns which encourage walking.

This paper presents new prototype powered wheelchair systems that are easy to use and safe. The systems use simple ultrasonic sensor systems to assist users in steering their powered wheelchairs. The new systems could improve the chances of some disabled children learning that behaviour and interaction with the environment can be controlled. An overview of the benefits to be offered by an automated wheelchair is included. Some results, problems and difficulties are described along with an assessment of the current position and the way forward.

Erel Avineri is associate professor in travel behaviour at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. He has 20 years experience of consultancy, research and teaching in transport, logistics and operations management. Since he joined UWE in 2004 he has lead research in the fields of travel behaviour, travel information systems, road safety and behavioural change. Dr Avineri has gained wide recognition for his research on travel behaviour under uncertainty, the incorporation of socio-psychological aspects into behaviour models and the design of behaviour change policy measures. Applying choice architecture, Dr Avineri studies the effect of ‘nudges’ on the perception of and attitudes to CO2 reduction. He holds degrees in industrial engineering and management (BSc) and transportation sciences (MSc, PhD) from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

The purposes of this study are to explore children’s independent mobility, that is the degree to which children of different ages are allowed to make trips to school, friends, shops, and other destinations unaccompanied by adults within the Arab communities in Israel and to study the influence of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics, built environment, geographical location, cultural context, and risk perceptions on children’s independent mobility.

This study is based on a questionnaire given to children between 9 and 15 years old studying in 4th to 9th grades and to one parent or primary caregiver. The methodology of this study is based on descriptive statistics comparing independent mobility licenses and travel behavior of two school children groups: Arab and Jewish children. In addition logistic regression models were developed to study the influence of different factors on independent mobility such as: car availability, gender, age, social class, and so on. In order to examine whether children with independent mobility do more and have access to a wider range of activities than those who do not, a linear regression analysis was performed with the dependent variable being the number of unaccompanied journeys to the various activities in the weekend.

Results clearly show that boys were granted greater freedom in terms of mobility licenses, as were secondary school children compared with those attending primary school. Walking is still the main commuting mode to school. One of the important findings in this study is that children are not interested in walking. That is, regardless of the built environment and parents driving options, children prefer to be driven.

This study will provide essential information for the development of policies and interventions in urban planning, transport planning, community development, community safety initiatives, and health planning.

This study is among the first to examine levels of independent mobility among the Arab school children in Israel, as well as their participation in active transport (e.g., walking/cycling) during journeys to school and to other local destinations.

Therefore, this study will hopefully provide a baseline for future studies in this area and act as a catalyst for more research into independence and mobility, and how this impacts sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of social support on young adults with disabilities (YAWDs) independent mobility behavior with the aim of understanding how better to support this vulnerable consumer segment in their transition into the workforce.

A survey was conducted which examined how social support (high and low) influenced YAWD’s path to independent mobility behavior. The data were analyzed using partial least squares-SEM.

It was identified that different factors were more effective at influencing independent mobility behavior for high and low socially supported YAWDs. For high social support individuals, anticipated positive emotions and perceived behavioral control were found to drive attitudes to independent mobility with perceived behavioral control significantly stronger for this group than the low socially supported group. For the low socially supported group, all factors were found to drive attitudes which then drove individual behavior. One entire path (risk aversion to anticipated negative emotions to attitude to behavior) was found to be stronger for low supported individuals compared to high.

This study is unique in that it is the first to identify the theoretical constructs that drive vulnerable consumer’s independence behavior and understand how these factors can be influenced to increase independence. It is also the first to identify that different factors influence independent behavior for vulnerable consumers with high and low social support with anticipated negative emotions important for consumers with low social support and perceived behavioral control important for those with high social support.

This paper aims to develop a clearer understanding of the role of business education and business schools in fostering global mobility. As business schools seek to educate managers who can work globally and adjust to new business and cultural environments, it is important to assess which specific dimensions of business education, such as the location of the school and its curriculum, play a significant role in fostering greater global mobility among business graduates. This also helps how business schools potentially influence global talent flows.

This study uses an empirical research methodology in the form of a multivariate analysis to examine a sample of 91 business schools that are accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in the 2015 Financial Times Global MBA Ranking.

This study finds that international mobility of MBA graduates is mediated both by the design of the curriculum and the location of the business school. MBA graduates from leading business schools that offer greater levels of international experiential learning are more likely to pursue overseas careers after graduation. MBA graduates from leading business schools that are located in economically globalized locations, by contrast, are often more likely to remain in the country where they studied after graduation to pursue local employment opportunities.

This paper contributes to the knowledge of how business education influences the international mobility of business graduates and how it influences global talent flows.

Fueled by strong market forces as well as by increasingly ubiquitous and pervasive mobile technologies, shifts in working practices and the application of mobile technologies have been occurring around the turn of the millennium. One such change concerns the work of professionals. This paper discusses the emergence of the mobile professional, through a field study of more than 60 professional workers in Tokyo during 2002. The paper concludes that one must broaden one's conception of mobility and conceptualize mobile professional work in terms of locational, operational, and interactional mobility. Furthermore, some implications for a new design of mobile professional work and technology use are drawn from the analysis of the field study: ICT as mobility‐booster; maintaining multiple ongoing interactions; the importance of personal networks; and places as material foundations for interaction.

Wheelchairs and mobility devices are important to enable mobility for students who are unable to functionally walk by themselves to fully participate in daily life. However, they can be enablers or barriers to inclusion and participation for students. Children and adolescents, like other wheelchair users, have a varying number of reasons to use chairs, but what type of chair, how it is used and what type of participation it encourages or discourages is as individual as the child themselves. This is an area of practice that has little evidence on which to base decisions, leading to inconsistencies of provision practice and inclusion in mainstream environments. This chapter will discuss why children use wheelchairs in the first place, then outline some of the typical types of wheelchair available and discuss matching the child to their wheelchair. Barriers to appropriate use of wheelchairs include policy, funding, attitudes and perceived skill set. Children who use wheelchairs often do not gain the motor experiences that their peers do yet are expected to perform skilled wheeled mobility, often without training. Finally, inclusion in school is about inclusion not only in the classroom but also in all activities to do with their school-based communities.

The choice of what type of mobility a child needs is down to their self-defined goals in the context of their school environment, family and general ecosystem. Other forms of wheeled mobility included adaptive bicycles for children who are unable to utilise nonadapted bikes. The basis for assessment for wheeled mobility is the student. The most important part of adaptive seating is to match the student, their self-defined goals and their developmental needs. Barriers to inclusion are discussed. The final section of this chapter includes a discussion of where wheeled mobility is going into the future.