Mobility Transitions and their Socio-Spatial Consequences: A Lefebvrian Framework

Keywords: Mobility, Development, Socio-spatial production
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

This chapter advances a comprehensive framework to analyze at once the politics of mobility transitions and their socio-spatial consequences. The proposed framework stems from an in-depth case study of the mobility transition currently unfolding in Vietnam, from one regime of urban mobility centered on motorbikes to another of auto- and transit-mobility. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork in Ho Chi Minh City, the framework consists of a methodical application of philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad to the field of urban mobility. The conceived space of urban mobility is that of the planners and policymakers whose decisions regarding the future of transportation are driven by socioeconomic development imperatives. It is the space of domination. The perceived space of urban mobility is that of the users whose everyday spatial practices are transformed by transportation investments and policies. It is the space of alienation and rising inequalities between those whose personal life trajectories follow broader upward trends of societal change, and those falling behind. Finally, the lived space of urban mobility is the contested space of the unplanned organic transformations of social relations and the built environment, as a result of a mobility transition. This chapter first lays out the theoretical principles mentioned above. Then, findings from the case study in Ho Chi Minh City are presented. Finally, a research agenda is suggested for systematic analyses of mobility transitions in different contexts.