ABSTRACT
Mobility is a crucial characteristic of modern societies. This holds for mobility in the sense of social mobility—the dissolution from social classes, guilds, or positions, and the loosening of binding social roles and rules of conduct that have led to the pluralization and individualization of norms and values, of lifestyles and biographies. It holds also for mobility in the sense of geographic mobility—the migration of individuals or groups; of moving from one place to another in an increasingly global world and of traveling to attractive destinations; and not least for mobility in terms of the actual trips and journeys performed by each member of society. For centuries, mobility meant locomotion on foot or horseback and travel by cart or boat. Over the course of the nineteenth and, increasingly, the twentieth century, industrial development opened up new opportunities for individual mobility (the ability to move about) and traffic (the transportation of people, goods, and news). Technological advances have made high speed and flexible transportation systems possible, enabling long distance trade and travel. Motorized transport options—from individual automobiles, public transportation systems, and special driving services to trains, ships, and airplanes—have made it possible to traverse distances even despite physical or sensory impairments or frailty. The examples given below, cited in many encyclopedias, reflect the rapid pace of advances in transport technology suited to enhancing older persons’ travel options.
