From Immobility to Hypermobility: Measure and Determinants of (im)Mobility Trajectories in Urban Contexts

Although there is a large international body of literature on residential mobility, the research on Spain is scarce. The main reason is that there is little suitable microdata which allows the analysis of individual residential and spatial mobility within urban contexts. This paper is one of the first to study mobility in a Spanish metropolitan context. We use data from a survey conducted in Granada with information on residential and spatial mobility between neighborhoods over a 10-year period and a Hurdle count regression method for the study of (in)mobility. The results show the effects of four basic dimensions (life course, stage in the residential career, social position and the neighborhoods where people live) on the generation of more (or less) sedentary trajectories. We found that residential and spatial immobility is associated with settled individuals and households. On the other hand, hypermobility is connected to younger age groups and those without children. The social position and type of neighborhood in which people reside emerge as relevant factors to understand immobility behavior.