Exploring practice-driven mobility mapping in two cities in Gelderland

Abstract

This research explores mobility poverty mapping by investigating two cases (Apeldoorn and Nijmegen). Mobility poverty occurs if people cannot reach desired activity locations, which can have various underlying reasons. This research clarifies where mobility poverty occurs and how it can be mapped. Furthermore, this research investigates how mobility poverty maps can be used in mobility policymaking. This research is practice-driven as it is based on insights from stakeholders from various policy levels and domains. Specifically, this research follows a ‘grounded visualization’ approach, which concerns mapping mobility poverty inductively, exploratively and iteratively (Knigge & Cope, 2006). In this research, interviewees were asked what indicators of mobility poverty are important. The indicators that were mentioned most often were bundled in GIS into a mobility poverty map. This map served as input for feedback interviews with the same interviewees, which highlights the iterative aspect of grounded visualization. This research shows the importance of consulting multiple levels and domains when applying mobility poverty maps in policymaking. Mobility poverty maps are valuable to start multidisciplinary and multilevel discussions on mobility poverty. Integrating mobility poverty in policy with other themes like durability or active mobility can improve the uptake of mobility poverty in policy.