Everyday Mobility and Health

Everyday mobility is neither favorable nor unfavorable to health. While it can facilitate social interactions, increase access to remote services, or encourage physical activity, it can also generate pollution, promote the spread of epidemics or cause traffic accidents.

This book presents different facets of the relationship between daily mobility and health, focusing on the environments (geographical, social and political) that people live and move around in. It analyzes the role of mobility in the mechanisms of environmental exposure and diffusion, as well as the resulting health inequalities. It deals with active modes of travel (mainly walking and cycling) and the local contexts that are conducive to them. Finally, it offers a critical reading of the place given to everyday mobility in policies to combat obesity and rationalize regional healthcare provision.

Julie Vallée is a research director at CNRS, France, in the Géographie-cités laboratory, and a geographer. Her research focuses on everyday mobility, urban segregation, place-based effects and social inequalities, especially in health.