Mobilities and Complexities

Ole B. Jensen is Professor of Urban Theory. He has a cross-disciplinary background in political science, sociology and planning. He studies how sociality is reconfigured by complex mobilities in the designed environs and infrastructural landscapes of the contemporary city. Sven Kesselring is a sociologist and Research Professor in Sustainable Mobilities at Nuertingen-Geislingen University, Germany. His research focuses on mobilities theory, socio-technological change and labour mobilities. His recent publications are Exploring Networked Urban Mobilities (2018, with Malene Freudendal-Pedersen); New Mobilities Regimes (2013, with Susanne Witzgall and Gerlinde Vogl) and Aeromobilities (2009; with John Urry and Saolo Cwerner).Mimi Sheller is Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy at Drexel University, Philadelphia. She is founding co-editor of the journal Mobilities and past president of the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility. She is the author or co-editor of ten books, the most recent being Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes (2018).

‘This superb collection is a fitting tribute to the pivotal influence of British sociologist John Urry (1946–2016) in rethinking the importance of mobility in contemporary societies. Within it a global array of key thinkers on the sociology, geography and politics of mobility reflect poignantly on how Urry's remarkable mind and generous spirit touched their work both personally and intellectually. Highly recommended!’Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities and Society, Newcastle University, and author of Vertical: The City From Satellites to Bunkers

• Foreword I Foreword II Part I Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Encountering John Urry: A Fragment of an Autobiography in Theory Chapter 3: Will There be an Urryism? The Dialectic of a Plural Thinker in Singular Times Chapter 4: Migration, the sociology of mobility and critical theory Chapter 5: Postdisciplinary encounters between Lancaster and the rest of the world Chapter 6: Following Part II Chapter 7: Proximity from a distance: virtual and imaginative mobility through the intimacies of life on screen Chapter 8: Postcards from a City Chapter 9: The Sensory Pleasures of the Disoriented Tourist Chapter 10: Some Personal Reflections on the Social Production of Multiple Natures Chapter 11: On a pilgrimage: A journey with John Urry Chapter 12: Remembering my special academic journey with John Urry Part III Chapter 13: Going places Chapter 14: John Urry’s adventures in Brazil Chapter 15: After the End of Tourism Chapter 16: Tourism, Mobilities, Geopolitics, Events Chapter 17: Running away from, or with, the tourist gaze Chapter 18: It’s About Time… Chapter 19: Ice-Fishing with John Urry – and Other Finnish Episodes of Ontological Importance Part IV Chapter 20: Mobilities without weight Chapter 21: Time - the Particular and the Universal Chapter 22: A long conversation on meetings, travels, and conversations with John Urry Chapter 23: Europe beyond Mobilities Chapter 24: Mobility – why actually? Chapter 25: How one book and one meeting shaped my aeromobilities research Chapter 26: Working materials: mobile objects, ideas and people Part V Chapter 27: Social Futures Chapter 28: The Future’s Never Simple when its Complex: Social Forecasting with John Urry Chapter 29: From Mobilities to Mobile Lives and Beyond: The World According to John Urry Chapter 30: Liveable Data: a Low Carbon Science Fiction (SF) with John Urry Chapter 31: A planetary turn for the social sciences? Chapter 32: Mobility and Simplicity Afterword