2012/07/01 by Allan M. Williams, Jo Foord, John Mooney
Social Sciences · #Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies #Urban Transport and Accessibility #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/03906701.2012.696961
openalex publication_date 2012/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
This paper brings together three contrasting strands of conceptualization relating to human mobility in metropolitan regions. First, the well-established literature on functional urban regions which focuses above all on the role of journey to work in defining these, and on patterns of relative population centralization versus decentralization in urban regions. Other than in terms of defining metropolitan zones, this literature is mostly based on analyses of ‘permanent’ population flows. Therefore, the second theme of this paper is a focus more on fluidity, on the importance of various forms of temporary population movements which can either confirm or challenge the trajectories of centralization versus decentralization that are suggested by permanent population shifts. These themes are explored through an empirical analysis of Portsmouth, UK, a mature metropolitan area which has been subject to absolute population centralization in recent years. Finally, we explore how diverse mobilities are interwoven – ...