Designing Mobility:  Mobilising design

RGS-IBG Conference, London 28th – 30th August 2013

Organised by Dr Justin Spinney,* Dr Suzanne Reimer** and Dr Philip Pinch†


* Geography & Environment, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton   SO17 1BJ   Email:  [log in to unmask] Telephone:  +44 (0)2380 592866

** Geography & Environment, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton   SO17 1BJ   Email: [log in to unmask]  Telephone:  +44 (0)2380 598816

† Department of Urban, Environment and Leisure Studies, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA  Email:  [log in to unmask]  Telephone: +44 (0)207 815 7349


Beyond Imrie’s work (2000, 2012) on immobility and the built environment; and Merriman’s (2009) on the material shaping of the car-driver, very little attention has been paid to the role of designers and design knowledge in shaping mobility and immobility. As Cresswell (2012) has noted, existing mobilities research has often been devoted to the micro scale of the body and to the phenomenology of daily mobility rather than larger systems of mobility. Accordingly Pinch and Reimer (2012) have called for further attention to the ways in which design, manufacture, distribution and marketing shape—and are shaped by—systems and experiences of mobility. Bringing such questions of governance and economy to the fore, this session seeks to illuminate the linkages between seemingly mundane spatial practice and the broader dynamics of knowledge and production networks in a number of ways:

Firstly, whilst many accounts focus upon the experiences of the hybrid mobile subject, less recognition has been given to the role of designers in shaping the affordances and experiences of the hybrid. The work of Callon and Muniesa (2005) amongst others has demonstrated the importance of product qualities in shaping how we perceive and use objects. In this session we want to explore the relationship between the use of mobility objects and perception of their qualities, and the roles of consumers and consumer-facing business functions such as design, consumer experience and marketing in shaping material and imagined qualities. How for example do designers understand the desires and affordances of the mobile subject? How are notions of actual or aspirational use translated into product qualities? How do design standards play out in everyday mobility to shape interactions between different styles of movement? How are sensory, affective and visual regimes shaped by designers? 
The majority of work in mobilities has focused on walking, cycling, flying and driving. We are particularly interested in papers which extend analyses to explore the design of assistive mobility such as wheelchairs, mobility scooters, e-bikes and motorcycles which are largely absent from existing taxonomies of mobility, or alternatively professionalised forms of mobility such as HGVs, trains and shipping.

Secondly, we are concerned to highlight power relations (including their gendered dynamics) within and across nodes of production, distribution and consumption within systems of mobility. Who shapes product qualities within commodity networks, and who claims credit for doing so?  Where is innovation located in relation to design and manufacture? What are the inter-linkages between different constellations of mobilities such as the design of HGVs, containerisation and palletisation? As this implies, we wish to explore the role of mediators in shaping design and controlling the flow of knowledge, both as conduits for feedback from users to designers, but also as regarding the correct use of objects be they HGVs, container ships or motorcycles. Mediators might include fleet operators, consumer media, training organisations, or retailers amongst others. 
We also wish to extend research on policy mobilities as specific kinds of knowledge flow in order to explore a wider set of examples centred upon the circulation, transmission and reception of design knowledges and standards. What understandings of practice are such regulatory knowledges based upon, how are such knowledges as Latourian ‘immutable mobiles’ transmitted between actors, and to what extent are they transformed and interpreted in different contexts by design professionals? 

We welcome submissions from those working in any discipline whose work speaks to these themes. Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted by Friday 25th January 2013 to Justin Spinney ([log in to unmask]).