Running the City: Movement, Meaning, Experience
2
Running the City: Meaning, Movement, Experience Simon Cook, Department of Geography Supervisor: Professor Peter Adey Academic Context The ‘mobilities turn’ has challenged the ‘a-mobile’ nature of previous social science research (Sheller and Urry, 2006; Cresswell, 2006) with a clear importance now bestowed upon understanding movement and the affect moving has upon our relationships with spaces, places, time and others (Fincham et al , 2010). Subsequently scholars have investigated a wide range of mobile practices but running has hitherto eluded sustained study, despite it being undertaken by just over two million people a week (Sport England, 2013) and the recognition of running’s crucial role in promoting healthy lifestyles (Latham, 2013) and a range of other societal benefits. The project will also seek to interrogate the holistic mobility framework devised by Cresswell (2006) that attempts to overcome the chaotic nature of much mobility research. As such this project will attend to the three entangled facets of movement, meaning and experience. Aims and Objectives The aim of this project is broadly to improve the geographical understandings of running. The objectives to achieve this are: 1. To derive a n indica tive unde rstandi ng of the ‘brute facts’ of road-running 2. To und erstan d the meanings and repre sentatio ns of running 3. To explore t he embodie d experie nces of ru nning 4. To ide ntify and analyse relationships between the facets of mobility and the politics that emerge accordingly Methodology Movement: Over a three month period, I intend to collect online running diaries from 50 participants. This will enable the collection of routes, dates, times, frequencies, speeds and durations that can be analysed using statistics as well as experimenting with GIS (Fig. 1) Meaning: Understandings of participants’ representations of running will be derived from interviews undertaken with them and then compared to meanings constructed by other sources such as films, literature, advertising, policy documents etc. Experience: I will employ both ‘go-along’ interviews (Anderson, 2004) and mobile video ethnography elicitation (Fig. 2) (Spinney, 2009) as tools to be on the move with runners and interrogate their experiences on the go. All audio will be transcribed and coded to develop discussions concerning the experience of running. These will also be informed through my own running and autoethnographic reflections. Potential Impact This study will be of interest to stakeholders involved in the promotion of running by gaining a better understanding of the practice, thereby improving their ability to cater for differentiating needs. This could include urban planners seeking to develop ‘runable’ cities; running clubs seeking to boost membership; local governments seeking to encourage active lifestyles or advertising agencies seeking to sell products. Academically, this project will address an important lacuna in the mobilities literature; interrogate its conceptualisations and methodologies as well as aiming to politically revalorise mobility. The project aims to contribute to wider debates in transport, cultural, social, health and urban geography as well. Figure 2. Footage from mobile video ethnography Figure 1. GIS analysis of running routes References: Anderson, J. (2004) ‘Talking whilst walking: a geographical archaeology of knowledge’ Area, 36(3): pp. 254– 261; Cresswell, T. (2006) On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World , Routledge, London; Fincham, B., McGuinness, M. and Murray, L (eds) (2010b) Mobile Methodologies, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke; Latham, A. (2013) ‘The history of a habit: jogging as a palliative to sedentariness in 1960s America’ Cultural Geographies, online first; Sheller, M. and Urry, J. (2 006) ‘The new mobilitiesparadigm’ Environment and Planning A, 38(2): pp.207 – 226; Spinney, J. (2009) ‘Cycling the City: Movement, Meaning and Method’ Geography Compass, 3(2): pp.817–835; Sport England (2013) Active People Survey 7 [online]. Sport England. Available from: http://www.sportengland.org/media/226699/1x30_sport_16-factsheet_APS7_final.pdf [Accessed 13 January 2014]
-
Upload
simon-cook -
Category
Documents
-
view
219 -
download
0
Transcript of Running the City: Movement, Meaning, Experience
8/13/2019 Running the City: Movement, Meaning, Experience
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/running-the-city-movement-meaning-experience 1/1
Running the City: Meaning, Movement, Experience
Simon Cook, Department of GeographySupervisor: Professor Peter Adey
Academic Context
The ‘mobilities turn’ has challenged the ‘a-mobile’ nature ofprevious social science research (Sheller and Urry, 2006;Cresswell, 2006) with a clear importance now bestowed uponunderstanding movement and the affect moving has upon ourrelationships with spaces, places, time and others (Fincham etal , 2010). Subsequently scholars have investigated a wide rangeof mobile practices but running has hitherto eluded sustainedstudy, despite it being undertaken by just over two millionpeople a week (Sport England, 2013) and the recognition of
running’s crucial role in promoting healthy lifestyles (Latham,2013) and a range of other societal benefits. The project will alsoseek to interrogate the holistic mobility framework devised byCresswell (2006) that attempts to overcome the chaotic natureof much mobility research. As such this project will attend to thethree entangled facets of movement, meaning and experience.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this project is broadly to improve the geographicalunderstandings of running . The objectives to achieve this are:
1. To derive an indicative understanding of the ‘brute facts’ ofroad-running
2. To understand the meanings and representations of running3. To explore the embodied experiences of running4. To identify and analyse relationships between the facets of
mobility and the politics that emerge accordingly
Methodology
Movement : Over a three month period, I intend to collect onlinerunning diaries from 50 participants. This will enable thecollection of routes, dates, times, frequencies, speeds anddurations that can be analysed using statistics as well asexperimenting with GIS (Fig. 1)
Meaning : Understandings of participants’ representations ofrunning will be derived from interviews undertaken with them
and then compared to meanings constructed by other sourcessuch as films, literature, advertising, policy documents etc.
Experience : I will employ both ‘go-along’ interviews (Anderson,2004) and mobile video ethnography elicitation (Fig. 2)(Spinney, 2009) as tools to be on the move with runners andinterrogate their experiences on the go. All audio will betranscribed and coded to develop discussions concerning theexperience of running. These will also be informed through myown running and autoethnographic reflections.
Potential Impact
This study will be of interest to stakeholders involved in thepromotion of running by gaining a better understanding of thepractice, thereby improving their ability to cater fordifferentiating needs. This could include urban planners seekingto develop ‘runable ’ cities; running clubs seeking to boostmembership; local governments seeking to encourage activelifestyles or advertising agencies seeking to sell products.
Academically, this project will address an important lacuna inthe mobilities literature; interrogate its conceptualisations andmethodologies as well as aiming to politically revalorisemobility. The project aims to contribute to wider debates intransport, cultural, social, health and urban geography as well.
Figure 2. Footage from mobile video ethnography
Figure 1. GIS analysis of running routes
References:Anderson, J. (2004) ‘Talking whilst walking: a geographical archaeology of knowledge’ Area, 36(3): pp. 254 – 261; Cresswell, T. (2006) On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World , Routledge, London; Fincham, B., McGuinness, M. and Murray, L (eds) (2010b)Mobile Methodologies , Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke; Latham, A. (2013) ‘The history of a habit: jogging as a palliative to sedentariness in 1960s America’ Cultural Geographies , online first; Sheller, M. and Urry, J. (2006) ‘The new mobilities paradigm’ Environmentand Planning A , 38(2): pp.207 – 226; Spinney, J. (2009) ‘Cycling the City: Movement, Meaning and Method’ Geography Compass , 3(2): pp.817–835; Sport England (2013) Active People Survey 7 [online]. Sport England. Available from:http://www.sportengland.org/media/226699/1x30_sport_16-factsheet_APS7_final.pdf [Accessed 13 January 2014]
