The Ties That Bind? Spatial (Im)mobilities and the Transformation of Rural-Urban Connections

Abstract

The concept of mobility has gained considerable prominence in social theory and research in recent years, resulting in calls for a paradigm shift or ‘mobility turn‘. This chapter argues that notions of spatial mobility as largely voluntary, individualised and contingent upon large-scale infrastructure at the core of this new paradigm reveal an urban-centric perspective. This contrasts with largely implicit conceptions of rural life as predominantly immobile and rooted in place. This chapter draws on documents, policy reports and publicly available statistics from various sources to illustrate the increasingly mobile and translocal nature of rural life in Ireland. It focuses on two examples of heightened spatial mobility – car-dependent daily mobility and the emergence of ‘mobile farmers’ – to challenge prevailing stereotypical views of rural immobility and to demonstrate the significance of politics and policy for the formation of spatial mobility patterns. It is argued that a theoretical and empirical focus on spatial (im)mobilities can shed new light on the socio-political causes and consequences of the recent rapid transformation of rural-urban connections in Ireland.