Navigating Detours in the Mobility Transition

Vincent Kaufman is a professor of urban sociology and mobility analysis at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, where he directs the Urban Sociology Laboratory (LaSUR). His current research focuses on mobility and its links to transformations in contemporary societies and territories. Mimi Sheller is the Dean of The Global School and is an internationally recognized scholar and higher education leader, with fifteen years of executive leadership across academic units, research centers, and professional organizations. Prior to joining WPI, she was tenured Professor of Sociology, Head of the Sociology Department, and founding Director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

"Detours are glitches, anomalies, or friction that block, prevent, and obstruct intentions, plans, and goals. ‘Detours in the Mobility Transition’ is an important analytical wake-up call to why things are moving so slow, why matters of concern still seem to stall, and why the much-needed environmental transition takes so long. The mobility transition needed has been detoured, and in this book, we learn how and why. This is important for critical action to take place, and for any way to mitigate the detours of mobility transition. Through five sections the book covers an analytical framework based on mobilities thinking, how the transition needs regulation and control, how transforming lifestyles are necessary to challenge the lock-ins of human practices working against transition, the need for innovation, and not least how to be ‘breaking locks’ in order for transition actually to happen. The book is a must-read for all critically, concerned urban mobility scholars, transportation planners, and policy makers."Professor Ole B. Jensen, Center for Mobilities and Urban Studies (C-MUS), Aalborg University

• Prologue: The Long and Burning Road General Introduction Background: How Much Time Do We Have Part I: Transforming Fundamental Frameworks to Account for Planetary Limits 1. The Great Acceleration 2. Rejecting Injustice 3. Reinventing the Right to Mobility 4. Transforming Social Norms 5. Breaking With the Car System 6. Tackling Gender Inequalities 7. Placing Citizens' Aspirations at the Heart of Policy 8. Stop Using Modelling as a Trojan Horse for Carbon-Intensive Mobility 9. Redefining Accessibility: A Condition for Just Mobility Policies 10. Changing Mobility in a Globalised World 11. Making Digital Technologies an Ally 12. Recognising the Weight of Road Transport 13. Biodiversity and Climate: A Common Battle 14. Understanding Local Practices to Strengthen the Global Transition Part II: Policies and Regulations for Decarbonising Mobility 15. Regulating Speed 16. Taxing Effectively 17. Rethinking Urban Planning 18. Cutting Air Travel 19. Organising Rationing Before It Is Imposed 20. Reducing Business Travel 21. Calming Life Rhythms 22. Enabling Proximity-Based Living 23. Putting the Car Back in Its Place Through the Car Budget Part III: Enabling Alternative Lifestyles That Are Desirable and Ecological 24. Designing a Residential Mobility Policy 25. Embracing the Complexity of Work-Related Mobility 26. Organising Teleworking to Reduce Travel 27. Curbing the Mobility of the Super-Rich 28. Transforming, Reducing and Decolonising Tourism 29. Integrating Leisure Into Mobility Policies 30. Leveraging Residents to Drive Change 31. Developing Everyday Rail 32. Organising Intermodality 33. Launching the Bike Revolution 34. Making Walking Possible at Last Part IV: A World Tour of Ideas to Follow… or Not 35. Europe: Changing So That Nothing Changes 36. North America I: Full Speed Ahead 37. North America II: Car-Sharing 38. South America: A Laboratory of Mobility 39. Africa: Breaking Free From Car Dependency 40. Japan: The Challenge of Demographic Decline 41. China: A Push for Electrification 42. The Global South: Reimagining Mobility Part V: Breaking the Deadlocks 43. Avoiding Travel: The Unpopular Option 44. The Dead End of Electric Cars 45. Resisting the Automobile Lobby 46. The Geopolitics of Electrification: A Ticking Time Bomb 47. Social Innovation for Community-Based Resource Management 48. Access to Alternatives to the Car 49. The First and Last Mile: The Great Neglected Issue 50. In Rural Areas, a Car-Free Future