Demanding business travel:the evolution of the timespaces of business practice

To date, virtual ways of working have yet to substantially reduce demand for business travel. Emerging research claims that virtual and physical work compliment rather than substitute for one another. This suggests travel demand stems from business strategies and achieving business outcomes. In building on these ideas, this chapter draws upon Schatzki’s conception of timespace to capture changes in how two UK-based global construction and engineering consulting firms organise work and the implications in terms of demand for business travel. Overtime, particular forms of spatially stretched organisation which have developed are found to require the interweaving of timespaces through travel. As such, how each firm has evolved has in turn created the contemporary situation of significant and hard to reduce demand for travel

How do new mobility practices emerge? A comparative analysis of car-sharing in cities in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands

The hegemony of the private car is increasingly challenged as new policies and technologies affect passenger mobility. This study investigates how car-sharing is emerging and unfolding amidst established urban mobility practices. We apply a conceptual framework with seven elements based on social practice theories and transition literature to deconstruct practices in order to reveal how such (relatively) new mobility practices emerge. Our comparative study uses qualitative methods with data from 58 household interviews and three half-day work-shops with stakeholders in Oslo, Norway; Malmo, Sweden; and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The research question asks how car-sharing practices unfold differently in different places. The results indicate how elements of mobility practices change from the situation before and without car-sharing to after and with car-sharing. The analysis reveals different changes in the three areas, with greater change in Malmo because of public procurement of car-sharing and less in Rotterdam, where there was interest in urban experiments directed at phasing out car use and supporting car-free city zones. The framework highlights that new digital technologies and regulations are important, influencing business models and the social meaning of mobility towards a broader acceptance of access-based transportation. For car-sharing to contribute to environmental sustainability, the three areas need to reduce the daily use of cars so car-sharing can become a viable option for occasional use of cars. Further, policies should combine Electric Vehicles (EVs) and car-sharing, e.g. in Oslo, the focus of promoting EVs should include shared EVs, and in Rotterdam, improved charging infrastructure would be effective

How do new mobility practices emerge? A comparative analysis of car-sharing in cities in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands

The hegemony of the private car is increasingly challenged as new policies and technologies affect passenger mobility. This study investigates how car-sharing is emerging and unfolding amidst established urban mobility practices. We apply a conceptual framework with seven elements based on social practice theories and transition literature to deconstruct practices in order to reveal how such (relatively) new mobility practices emerge. Our comparative study uses qualitative methods with data from 58 household interviews and three half-day workshops with stakeholders in Oslo, Norway; Malm¨o, Sweden; and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The research question asks how car-sharing practices unfold differently in different places. The results indicate how elements of mobility practices change from the situation before and without car-sharing to after and with car-sharing. The analysis reveals different changes in the three areas, with greater change in Malmö because of public procurement of car-sharing and less in Rotterdam, where there was interest in urban experiments directed at phasing out car use and supporting car-free city zones. The framework highlights that new digital technologies and regulations are important, influencing business models and the social meaning of mobility towards a broaderacceptance of access-based transportation. For car-sharing to contribute to environmental sustainability, the three areas need to reduce the daily use of cars so car-sharing can become a viable option for occasional use of cars. Further, policies should combine Electric Vehicles (EVs) and car-sharing, e.g. in Oslo, the focus of promotingEVs should include shared EVs, and in Rotterdam, improved charging infrastructure would be effective

Entering, enduring and exiting: the durability of shared mobility arrangements and habits

Car sharing could support a transition away from private vehicle ownership and use. Attempts to understand participation in car sharing have primarily focused on minor and major disruptions which catalyse change in practices. This paper examines how processes of entering, continuing or exiting car sharing systems unfold in Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Car sharing is conceptualised as an arrangement of elements assembled, adjusted and supported by events, practices and habits. Drawing on biographically-oriented household interviews, we build on and extend existing understandings of change and stability in car sharing in four ways. First, by focusing on households rather than individual users, the paper complements recent attempts to understand the decoupling of family and private-car-based mobility. Second, under-examined processes of exiting, alongside entry and continuation are considered. Third, it highlights the importance of recognising more imperceptible, gradual and continuous changes which might not necessarily coincide with a disruptive event. Fourth, habits of shared car arrangements are demonstrated to be fragile and not as deeply ingrained as those associated with ownership. Existing household practices and habits thus raise further questions about the potential for shared mobility services to disrupt the primacy of the car