| Author: | Gera, Krity |
| Title: | Informal mobilities through the lens of gender : identifying capacities emerging from the daily mobilities of urban marginalised women |
| Advisors: | Hasdell, Peter (SD) Bruyns, Gerhard (SD) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Subject: | Social mobility -- India Rural-urban migration Women -- India -- Social conditions Internal migrants -- India Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Design |
| Pages: | xxi, 384 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This research investigates to identify the emerging capacities arising from the everyday mobilities of women from the peri-urban areas of New Delhi, India. While mobility may be considered a fundamental human right, it is intertwined with elements that extend beyond the mere understanding of transportation and space, highlighting various kinds of exclusions and denied access to resources at different scales (Sheller and Urry, 2006). Moreover, within the context of informal settlements, the concept of informality does not originate from the physical infrastructure of a city but is hugely dependent upon the social elements of the urban. The chaotic yet harmonious mesh formed through the cohesive existence of the social and urban infrastructure of these informal settlements results in several unvoiced alliances and care-taking systems (Simone, 2020). The study focuses on mobility and informality through the lens of gender with the help of an empirical investigation. The objectives of the research are: 1) to understand the relationship between social and spatial mobility of urban marginalised women, 2) to demonstrate that the daily mobilities of urban marginalised women can expand to establish a relationship between social and spatial mobility, 3) to propose a set of principles to inform the formal systems of mobility through the capacities built up by the daily mobilities of urban marginalised women. Corresponding to these objectives, the research questions framed are: 1) What are the consequences of the relationship between social and spatial mobility of urban marginalised women? 2) How does the daily mobility of urban marginalised women expand to generate different capacities in informal contexts? 3) How can this formation of informal contexts be recognised for formal urban systems of mobility (towards bottom-up configurations)? This research adopts mobile methods in ethnography (unstructured in-depth interviews) supported by GPS technology as methods of inquiry. The study examines the cases that include 35 shortlisted participant interviews (out of a total of around a 100 interviews) supported with GPS travel patterns, follow-up conversations through WhatsApp messaging, and pictures shared by the participants. To manage the complexity of the data, a multi-layered analysis is conducted using NVivo and manual mapping methods to highlight the varying degree of factors that affect the conditions of mobility for women through interdependent parts of a complex system. At the micro-macro level, the study identifies 35 interlinked factors classified under four broad categories, namely travel issues, sociocultural factors, informality, and emerging informal mobility arrangements. This complex mesh of interconnected factors forms the base framework for further analysis of four different groups of women (based on marital status and nature of their daily travel). Initial findings suggest that the factors do not remain consistent across all four cases but are either seen to overlap or show a variation based on the different contexts. The research reveals the aspects of informality, such as a sense of belongingness to a community and social interdependence, as the main characteristics these women carry to other socio-urban environments through their daily mobilities. Acts of doing things together, taking care of each other as one family, flexibility, adaptability, and negotiations are identified as crucial elements along with mutual trust. In addition, the research reveals four emerging informal mobility arrangements used by women to carry out their daily mobilities, namely, the emergence of informal transit nodes, self-organisation to plan their travel, formation of travel bubbles for safety (and cost) and using alternative options for mobility. The study's main contribution to knowledge is to identify and recognise mobility of women as a capacity that demonstrates the potential to use their abilities to pool and strategise their limited resources as opportunities through the means of collaborative action or collective sensibilities (guided by aspects of informality - social interdependence). Based on the synthesis of the findings mentioned above, the study presents a set of principles for planning and design of mobility. These principles suggest including aspects of adaptability and negotiations that allow for the emergence of bottom-up arrangements configured by the collective capacities of women towards flexible and more equitable mobilities. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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