Conceptualizing Mobility Inequality: Mobility and Accessibility for the Marginalized

Abstract

The burgeoning landscape of literature on mobility inequalities has led to discrepancies between a conceptual understanding of mobility inequalities and its implementation in planning practice. Reviewing 270 publications across five decades, this article identifies intrinsic and extrinsic factors and approaches for understanding and analyzing mobility inequality. Using two thought experiments to critically locate variations in factors and approaches, dilemmas and challenges in addressing mobility inequality for the marginalized are exposed. The article concludes with future research directions for investigating mobility inequality.

Spatial and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Accessibility to Healthcare Services in South Korea

“…The first step in addressing the accessibility issue should be to establish some guiding principles. A robust ethical foundation supports this since freedom of movement and equal accessibility access to essential destinations are basic universal human rights [ 8 ]. Furthermore, accessibility in the sense of being able to access key destinations should be considered a basic capability due to its central role in enabling people to satisfy basic needs [ 5 , 40 ].…”

“…Unfortunately, this is not the case in practice due to various factors, such as the inequal allocation of healthcare facilities and staffs [ 7 ]. Most of us confront some type of inequal accessibility to healthcare services in our daily lives; even, the degree to which this occurs may vary across individuals in different spatial and socioeconomic contexts [ 8 ].…”

“…The empirical research that lies at the intersection of accessibility and equity has been thriving [ 9 , 10 ] since seminal works by Wachs and Kumagai [ 11 ] and Banister [ 12 ]. Previous literature has identified some degree of inequal accessibility to healthcare services, and it varies across individuals in different spatial and socioeconomic contexts [ 8 , 13 ]. For instance, Steinberg et al [ 14 ] found that people with disabilities had difficulty accessing healthcare services in three U.S. cities.…”

Evaluación de la movilidad de estudiantes y accesibilidad espacial a centros de educación en zonas periurbanas

“…Dicho crecimiento implica la incorporación de extensiones considerables de suelos agrícolas como soporte de nuevas actividades urbanas (De Oliveira & Hurtado, 2017). La conurbación resultante de este proceso ha derivado en una serie de transformaciones territoriales, con resultados heterogéneos de acuerdo con las particularidades de cada región, en donde los territorios de menor jerarquía se someten a los requerimientos de las ciudades y se integran a su dinámica bajo formas muy diversas (Hidayati, Tan & Yamu, 2021).…”

Geographical Access to Child and Family Healthcare Services and Hospitals for Africa-Born Migrants and Refugees in NSW, Australia; A Spatial Study

“…Access to health services is typically framed by the distribution of health services and ignores inter-locality problems of collective public transportation policies [ 32 ]. Moreover, mobility inequality, defined as disadvantages to individuals and groups produced by unequal access to resources for physical accessibility, is best understood in its socio-spatial context [ 33 ]. A detailed analysis of the geography of relative collective transport deprivation (hardship) can demonstrate that various populations experience different health outcomes that may be related to mobility inequalities due to the distinctive geography of Australia [ 24 , 34 ].…”