Fragments of “Cultures of Mobility”: Everyday Movement of Parents with Children in Cagliari, Southern Italy

E-ISSN： 1548-744x|27|1|51-69

ISSN： 0893-0465

Source： CITY AND SOCIETY, Vol.27, Iss.1, 2015-04, pp. : 51-69

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Abstract

This article develops a portrait of cultures of mobility emerging from empirical research conducted in Cagliari, southern Italy. The research focuses on the everyday mobility enacted by parents as they aim to take good care of their young children. To illuminate that mobility is more than the transport of bodies, but creates sets of different cultural meanings, we draw on Thévenot's work on “pragmatic regimes” (2001), or ways people use to engage with reality in their everyday lives (here, through mobility practices). This further interlinks with “structural stories” (Freudendal‐Pedersen 2009, this issue), redefinitions of proximity, and “motility” (Flamm and Kaufmann 2006).We argue fragments of cultures of mobility arise through these modalities and enhance understandings of mobility and the ways in which particular cities shape and are shaped by everyday experiences. Data were collected using semi‐structured interviews and “map‐elicitation,” a visual approach that allows participants to elucidate their preferences regarding daily routines that were not necessarily aligned with rational explanations of routines or with politically‐correct discourse.