ABSTRACT
There are conditions behind mobilities that (re)produce the differences between urban and rural communities. While non-urban communities are imagined to involve little mobility, they rely on the mobility of professionals. This chapter uses a concept of viscosity as well as motility to understand how context conditions a motile agent’s mobility. A complicated narrative from a professional seeking to move his family from rural to urban space shows how a combination of motility and viscosity can better account for mobility outcomes. Urban magnetism is shown to work through market forces that link rural and urban communities in an increasingly competitive network.
