Hypermobility (travel)
The term hypermobility in regard to travelers arose around 1980[1] and is a concept that has increased in usage since the early 1990s: Damette (1980);[2] Hepworth and Ducatel (1992);[3] Whitelegg (1993);[4] Lowe (1994);[5] van der Stoep (1995);[6] Shields (1996);[7] Cox (1997);[8] Adams (1999);[9] Khisty and Zeitler (2001);[10] Gössling et al. (2009);[11] and Mander & Randles (2009).[12] The term is widely credited as having been coined in Adams (1999), but apart from the title it says no more than "[t]he term hypermobility is used in this essay to suggest that it may be possible to have too much of a good thing."[9][11]
Hypermobile travelers are "highly mobile individuals" who take "frequent trips, often over great distances." They "account for a large share of the overall kilometres travelled, especially by air."[11] These people contribute significantly to the overall amount of airmiles flown within a given society.[13] Although concerns over hypermobility apply to several modes of transport, the environmental impact of aviation and especially its greenhouse gas emissions (which have a leveraged climate effect because they occur at altitude) have brought particular focus on flying.[14][15]
Although the amount of time people have spent in motion has remained constant since 1950, the shift from feet and bicycles to cars and planes has increased the speed of travel fivefold.[16] This results in the twin effects of wider and shallower regions of social activity around each person (further exacerbated by electronic communication which is a form of virtual mobility), and a degradation of the social and physical environment brought about by the high speed traffic (as documented by Donald Appleyard).
The changes are brought about locally due to the use of cars and motorways, and internationally by aeroplanes. Some of the threats of hypermobility include:[17]
- more polarisation between rich and poor
- more anonymous and less convivial communities
- less cultural variation
- increased risk to pedestrians
- reduced health and fitness
Widespread internet use is seen as a contributory factor towards hypermobility due to the increased ease which it enables travel to be desired and organized.[18]
Some governments promote private hypermobility through their road-building policies, and public hypermobility though mass transit.[19][20] Punitive car taxation has been proposed to limit the environmental impact of hypermobility.[21]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Damette F (1980). The regional framework of monopoly exploitation: new problems and trends. Regions in Crisis: New Perspectives in European Regional Theory (p.76-92).
- ^ Damette F (1980). The regional framework of monopoly exploitation: new problems and trends. Regions in Crisis: New Perspectives in European Regional Theory (p.76-92).
- ^ Hepworth ME, Ducatel K (1992). Transport in the information age: Wheels and wires. ISBN 1852932201.
- ^ Whitelegg J, Holzafel H, Whitelegg J (1993). Transport for a sustainable future: the case for Europe. ISBN 1852931450.
- ^ Lowe MD (1994). The global rail revival. Society (31:5, p.51-56). [1]
- ^ van der Stoep J (1995). Hypermobility as a Challenge for Systems Thinking and Government Policy. Proceedings 39th Annual Meeting International Society for the Systems Sciences, Louisville (p.402-411).
- ^ Shields R (1996). Flow as a new paradigm. Space and Culture (1:1, p.1-7). [2]
- ^ Cox KR (1997). Spaces of globalization: reasserting the power of the local. The Guilford Press, New York.
- ^ a b Adams J (1999). The social implications of hypermobility. OECD Env. Directorate, Unclassified ENV/EPOC/PPC/T (99) 3/FINAL/REV1 (; p.95). [3]
- ^ Khisty CJ, Zeitler U (2001). Is Hypermobility a Challenge for Transport Ethics and Systemicity? Systemic Practice and Action Research (14:5, p.597-613).
- ^ a b c Gössling S, Ceron JP, Dubois G, Hall CM, Gössling S, Upham P, Earthscan L (2009). Hypermobile travellers. and Implications for Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction. In: Climate Change and Aviation: Issues, Challenges and Solutions, London. The chapter: [4]. The book: [5].
- ^ Mander S, Randles S (2009). Aviation Coalitions: Drivers of Growth and Implications for Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction. In: Climate Change and Aviation: Issues, Challenges and Solutions (ISBN 9781844076208), Earthscan, London.
- ^ Høyer, K. G. and Næss, P. (2001). Sustainable Tourism or Sustainable Mobility? The Norwegian Case. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8, 147-160. [6]
- ^ Anderson K, Bows A (2008). Reframing the climate change challenge in light of post-2000 emission trends. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (366:1882, p.3863-3882). [7]
- ^ Anderson K (2008). (Presentation slides): Reframing climate change: from long-term targets to emission pathways. [8]
- ^ John Adams (19 January 2000). "Proceedings from the Ottawa Workshop - OECD". pp. 118. http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/63c71d2d4054d0fdc125685d0053aee4/c125685b002f5004c125686b005cb510/$FILE/00071363.PDF#page=95.
- ^ "Hypermobility: The road to ruin". BBC. 11 December 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/558292.stm.
- ^ "Gridlock? Blame the net". BBC. 21 November 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1668371.stm.
- ^ John Ware (20 March 2007). "Still waiting for the bus". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/are_we_there_yet/6434261.stm.
- ^ Ware, John (12 March 2007). "Transport has been a terrible failure - but it can be fixed". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/mar/12/comment.transport.
- ^ Simon Jenkins (3 December 2006). "Admit it, we're travel addicted. Let the taxman put the brakes on". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/simon_jenkins/article658368.ece.
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