Call for papers: American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting 2010

Organizers: Ole B. Jensen, Sven Kesselring, Mimi Sheller

Session topic:

Sustainable Mobility and Mobility Justice: Geographies of Transition

The field of mobilities research engages not only in critical analysis of historical and existing mobility systems, but also future modeling of potential transition scenarios including active interventions, experimentation, and fostering alternative cultures of mobility. The key arena of active intervention and experimentation is the effort to create and implement more sustainable mobility systems to replace the current dominant system of automobility. The societal challenge consists in democratically transitioning toward an environmentally friendly, socially just and equitable provision of mobility.

What models exist for each of these complex transitions? How do technologies, institutions, cultures, everyday practices and identities come into play to bring about these intertwined social changes? What best practices can be learned from specific case studies or from cross-case comparisons? Could it be that mobility justice will essentially require a simultaneous movement towards more sustainable mobilities? Or that sustainability will require greater equality in the restructuring and distribution of motility, mobility capital, and mobility access? How can spatial and cultural contexts for dwelling and moving be redesigned to promote both sustainable mobility and mobility justice?

We welcome paper submissions that address the following questions and themes:

-Implementing transitions toward sustainable and ethical mobilities
-Technologies, complex systems, and cultural change
-Implementing mobility justice and equality agendas
-Democratizing mobilities and transition processes
-Re-conceptualizing mobility management, policies and institutional practices
-Urban spaces, mobile publics and identities that support both sustainable mobility and mobility justice
-Mobile ICT, “smart” infrastructures, and the promotion of sustainability and equality
-Changing the cultures and identities that arise out of the way we move

Abstracts no longer than 2000 characters and no later than 14 October 2009 to Prof. Mimi Sheller (mimi.sheller@drexel.edu).

Information on accepted abstracts will be sent out until: 23 October 2009 and the final deadline for submission to the AAG is 28 October 20