Sufficient mobility and access within limits: Research agenda for bringing together corridor frameworks and transportation research

Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, vol. 37, pp. 102029

Abstract

Recently developed frameworks that explicitly define boundaries of sustainability, such as “a safe and just space” or “consumption corridors,” are key for achieving good lives for all within ecological limits and have been explored in multiple influential studies. However, these “corridor frameworks” have rarely been explicitly applied to mobility and transport, and there is a need for more work in this direction. In this article, we provide an overview of the corridor frameworks and their links to four main strains of mobility and transport literature: sustainable transport, transport poverty, accessibility, and tourism and long-distance travel. The literature traditions have meaningful links to the corridor frameworks, but their approaches to social and ecological justice are largely disparate and disconnected. Existing studies rarely consider explicit ecological ceilings, and when ecological impacts are considered, the focus is usually on efficiency or relative improvements. Transport poverty and accessibility literature provide a meaningful contribution to defining social floors, but they largely neglect ecological ceilings and consumption maxima. Considerations of floors and ceilings are rarely explicit or are based on unquestioned assumptions of necessity and excess. Explicit ecological ceilings and social floors in mobility have been defined at national or global scales, but there is a need for more work on locally-specific thresholds that are distributively and procedurally just. We highlight the need to more comprehensively apply the corridor framework to transportation research and suggest a research agenda with seven main directions.

Authors 16

1. Michał Czepkiewicz corresponding

   University of Warsaw · Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre for European Regional and Local Studies (EUROREG), University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland

   Faculty of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, ul. Szamarzewskiego 89 C, 60-568 Poznań, Poland

2. Giulio Mattioli

   TU Dortmund University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University, August-Schmidt-Str. 10, 44221 Dortmund, Germany

3. Filip Schmidt

   Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, ul. Szamarzewskiego 89 C, 60-568 Poznań, Poland

4. Elias S. Willberg

   University of Helsinki

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

5. Lena Kilian Aachen Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

   Leiden University · University of Leeds

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands

   Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

6. Henrikki Tenkanen

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Built Environment, Aalto University, Finland

7. Dick Timmer

   TU Dortmund University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Philosophy and Political Science, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 50, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

8. Ákos Gosztonyi

   University of Helsinki

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1 P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

9. Johanna Raudsepp

   University of Iceland

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland

10. Sanna Ala-Mantila

    University of Helsinki

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1 P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

11. Lisa Jacobson

    Future Earth

    Affiliation as printed

    Earth Commission, Future Earth, Lilla Frescativägen 4A 114 18, Stockholm, Sweden

12. Mònica Guillén-Royo

    CICERO Center for International Climate Research

    Affiliation as printed

    CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Postboks 1129 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway

13. Dawid Krzysztof Krysiński

    University of Wrocław · Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, ul. Szamarzewskiego 89 C, 60-568 Poznań, Poland

    Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław, ul. Koszarowa 3, 51-149 Wrocław, Poland

14. Kevin Joseph Dillman

    University of Iceland

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland

15. Jukka Taneli Heinonen

    University of Iceland

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland

16. Petter Næss

    Norwegian University of Life Sciences

    Affiliation as printed

    Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Postbox number 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway