Introduction

The urban is about the rhythms and temporalities that create spaces in constant movement and change. In this chapter, the authors illustrate ‘the urban’ through the now well-consolidated research field of mobilities research or what has been termed the ‘New Mobilities Turn’. They illustrate the way in which mobilities as an overall theoretical inspiration, or calls it an ‘umbrella’ if people like, provides a different understanding of the urban. The social, environmental, economic and cultural effects of these continuing transformation processes make a distinct and focused urban mobilities agenda more pertinent and relevant than ever. The ‘spatial turn’ in the mid-1980s brought the urban issue back, especially within geographies and planning. The authors aim to further encourage a cross-disciplinary and empirically focused exchange between such diverse fields as geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, urban planning, traffic and transportation planning, architecture and urban design around the issues of urban mobilities.