Youth and mobility
Project duration: since 10/2010
Strategic UfU project
Mobility is considered a basic need. Studies show that mobility is understood to be a prerequisite for individual quality of life and for accessing the places where people spend their free time. At the same time, cars and other vehicles are expressions of people’s own self-image. They symbolize a person’s interests, convictions, values and social status.
This project is concerned with the question as to the importance of mobility specifically in young people’s everyday lives. The following issues are of particular interest:
- the extent to which various forms of mobility are building blocks for young people’s self-discovery and self-definition,
- which images they associate with cars or other vehicles,
- which beliefs they express when choosing a particular mode of transportation and
- whether trends away from individual transport can be identified.
The first step involves conducting in-depth interviews with youths, and whether their living environment is urban or rural will be taken into account. Focus groups will be employed in a second step.
Contact: Dr. René Zimmer
