All too often, mobility is evoked as a preferred indicator in explanations of space-time compression and its impact. However, in failing to clearly distinguish speed potentials from their use, such analyses veer towards technological determinism, or else towards the normative domain. In order to avoid this trap, the motivations underlying mobility must be explored. This groundbreaking examination is carried out through a discussion of the following general question: to what extent can the speed potentials generated by technological transportation systems be considered as vectors of social change? It also provides an opportunity to study in greater depth the little-known field of the sociology of mobility. Following an examination of the existing controversies surrounding social fluidification, it proposes to rethink mobility using the new concept of motility. Current contributions to and research results in this new area are included and the book indicates possible new research directions, opening the way to a new form of general sociology.

Conditions for travel have changed and are still changing the world – a world experiencing what John Urry calls the ‘mobility turn’. Since World War Two we have been moving faster and going further – a fact that has profoundly changed our way of experiencing both the world and ourselves. The explosion of low-cost travel options has similarly had an important impact on the economy, adding to the globalization of markets and transformations in modes of production. It is no longer possible to think of nation-states as autonomous vis-a-vis one another, nor of cities or regions as homogenous spaces delimited by clear-cut borders. Societies, like Western cities, are redefining themselves through mobility. What does this mean for the city – for its governability and governance? In this book Vincent Kaufmann assesses the urban implications of the mobility turn. He explores the modern urban phenomenon from the point of view of the mobility capacities of its players – their motility. He asks that the reader consider the idea of a city or region as the product or an arrangement of a specific set of motilities. Re-Thinking the City seeks to identify how the motility of individuals, goods, and information acts as an organizing principle – or rather, the organizing principle – of contemporary urban change, and then aims to examine the consequences for urban governance by exploring the channels through which individual and collective motility can be regulated.

In this ambitious and innovative biography, Kaufmann deftly locates his subject within the historical and intellectual context of the radical social, political, and artistic movements in which he participated.

Conditions for travel have changed and are still changing the world a world experiencing what John Urry calls the mobility turn . Since World War Two we have been moving faster and going further a fact that has profoundly changed our way of experiencing both the world and ourselves. The explosion of low-cost travel options has similarly had an important impact on the economy, adding to the globalization of markets and transformations in modes of production. It is no longer possible to think of nation-states as autonomous vis-a-vis one another, nor of cities or regions as homogenous spaces delimited by clear-cut borders. Societies, like Western cities, are redefining themselves through mobility. What does this mean for the city for its governability and governance? In this book Vincent Kaufmann assesses the urban implications of the mobility turn. He explores the modern urban phenomenon from the point of view of the mobility capacities of its players their motility. He asks that the reader consider the idea of a city or region as the product or an arrangement of a specific set of motilities. Re-Thinking the City seeks to identify how the motility of individuals, goods, and information acts as an organizing principle or rather, the organizing principle of contemporary urban change, and then aims to examine the consequences for urban governance by exploring the channels through which individual and collective motility can be regulated.

Mobility, which has represented a critical scientific category and political driver, is currently under strong public scrutiny: has mobility lost its potential for social cohesion and political integration? Europe Beyond Mobility: Mobilities, Social Cohesion and Political Integration assesses this question by focusing on the European integration process, conceptualized as a political project for the promotion of different flows of mobility. Mobility has been a fundamental tool for territorial strength and political integration among European countries. Based on a realistic understanding of the potentials and limits of mobility, this book pleads for a "resonant mobility" in the interest of a renovated European integration process. It examines how, in opposition to those advocating for national borders and mobility restrictions, the EU needs to explore new regulatory models which limit mobility’s adverse social, economic, and environmental impacts and make accessible the benefits of alternative flow models. It also provides an analytical framework for the study of current trends of mobility limitation, migration restriction and re-bordering, and offers a complementary and innovative framework for the study of globalization. Europe Beyond Mobility will be of interest to academics and students as well as policy makers and practitioners internationally in the fields of mobility, migration and border studies.

Gaby, Martin, Emilie ou Jean, ces hommes et ces femmes dont la vie est rythmée par les transports sont au coeur de cette enquête. Le lecteur plonge dans leur quotidien raconté en bande dessinée, découvrant ainsi la diversité des situations, les différentes perceptions de cette mobilité. Loin des clichés habituels sur le profil type du " grand mobile ", ce livre s'immisce dans la vie quotidienne de ceux que l'on croise tous les jours... Un texte des chercheurs ayant conduit cette enquête accompagne ces tranches de vies et vient éclairer scientifiquement les répercussions et les situations sociales liées à cette grande mobilité. Les éléments et les situations décrits dans cet ouvrage proviennent d'une enquête sociologique européenne de grande envergure menée dans six pays entre 2006 et 2011. La partie française a été menée par les chercheurs de LaSUR (Le Laboratoire de Sociologie Urbaine) de l'Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne et a été financée par le Forum Vies Mobiles

Etude de l'intersection entre littérature, médecine et religion organisée autour de deux fils conducteurs : le ménage à trois formé par l'écrivain, le médecin et le prêtre, dans lequel s'accomplit un positionnement de l'écrivain par rapport aux autres, et les liens entre douleur et imagination avec lesquels se constitue la dimension doloriste d'une partie de la littérature et de l'art modernes.

C'est autour des problématiques soulevées par la sociologie urbaine contemporaine que sont réunis quelques-uns des meilleures spécialistes francophones en la matière. Il s'agit d'une deuxième édition, profondément remaniée, augmentée et actualisée. Sont traités au fil des 18 chapitres de cet ouvrage, les dynamiques métropolitaines, les mobilités et les réseaux, les inégalités sociales et fragmentations urbaines, les notions de temps et de quartier ainsi que les imbrications entre l'économique et le politique dans la production des formes urbaines. Après une ouverture consacrée à l'état de l'art, chaque chapitre fait le bilan d'une abondante bibliographie, introduit des recherches originales et conclut en mettant en exergue les apports des résultats présentés pour la compréhension du phénomène urbain. Soucieux de s'approprier les apports d'autres disciplines, cet ouvrage renouvelle les théories et méthodes de la recherche urbaine. L'ouvrage se termine par un chapitre conclusif qui prend la forme d'une ouverture sur les grands débats qui animent la sociologie contemporaine.