Residential mobility and moving home

Abstract

This review traces the changing conceptualizations of “mobility,” “place,” and “home” under the new mobilities paradigm, and the effect of this reconceptualization on residential mobility research. The “new mobilities paradigm” describes the (re)conceptualization of the relationship between place and mobility among mobilities scholars (Cresswell, ; Sheller & Urry, ). The reconceptualization of place as linked to mobility led to a more dynamic and inclusive perception of home as a lived experience that can be moved from place to place (Gillespie, ). This review will trace how residential mobilities—or internal (re)locations within one nation state—are discussed as alternate, lived experiences of home by scholars within the paradigm. In the second part of this review, I discuss how the lived experience of home is currently integrated in theoretical and methodological approaches to residential mobility research. In particular, I consider the incorporation of longitudinal, ethnographic, narrative and biographical methods, and emerging geographical research that utilizes life course methodological frameworks to explore the dynamic and lived experience of home. By progressing the understanding of the “mobility of home,” residential mobility researchers can contribute to wider discussions on the influence of mobility on place experiences.

Experiencias de movilidad residencial en jóvenes de barrios populares de Buenos Aires (Argentina)

“…Sin ser considerado a priori como eventos desestabilizadores o negativos, 1 La imaginación no supone una fantasía frente a una realidad preexistente o algo externo a las prácticas sociales, sino una "práctica corporizada que trasciende las distancias físicas y socioculturales. Aun cuando una persona pueda permanecer en un lugar, su imaginación puede estar en movimiento, viajando a otros lugares y a otras temporalidades" (Rapport y Dawson, 1998 en Salazar, 2020, p. 6;traducción propia se observan las (in)movilidades residenciales en relación con la creación de hogares en movimiento (Buckle, 2017;Jirón e Imilán, 2018).…”

“…Si bien se han destacado las consecuencias negativas de las movilidades residenciales en las biografías juveniles, tales movilidades pueden permitir a las familias, y a las personas jóvenes en particular, mejorar sus condiciones de vida al salir de barrios vulnerabilizados y contar con mayor acceso a instituciones y recursos de calidad en salud, educación o recreación a los que difícilmente podrían acceder de otra manera (Buckle, 2017;Perkins, 2016). Tras salir de la institución ante su mayoría de edad, con escasos recursos, Mateo retorna a la casa de su madre en la villa.…”

Creating home: Intersections of memory and identity

“…Migrants attempt to (re)create links with past homes through memories, values, identities, and traditions that can connect diasporic communities inside the home (Boccagni, ; Ley‐Cervantes & Duyvendak, ). A sense of community is achieved in the home by building “a complex and culturally varied set of emotions and meanings” (Horton & Kraftl, , p. 272) where our experiences of home are different based on our relationships with those in the home, our neighbours, and wider networks that construct a community (Buckle, ). Having a sense of community presents the possibility of building a comfortable, stable, and safe home.…”

“…These narratives are not stagnant, as are the identities connected to them. Thus, our hybrid identities can be attributed to “home” as a lived experience that is fluid and everchanging (Buckle, ).…”

(Re)visiting the neighbourhood

“…The neighbourhood can be place of respite, a place where our housing is, a place that we associate as home (because our home is in it). It can be a place that holds memories – good and bad (Buckle, 2017; Ratnam, 2018) – but one that may also trace temporal genealogies of our family/ies or be devoid of these connections. In our neighbourhoods, we (re)visit the neighbourhood spatially and temporally through everyday practices, like fetching children from school, by taking a leisurely route on a sunny day, or throughout our life course; we also, perhaps return to neighbourhoods of our youth to visit family or ageing close contacts.…”