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Mobility in History Through the Lens of Transport

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Mobility, Migration and Transport

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Migration History ((PSMH))

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Abstract

All mobility requires some form of transport, whether that be human powered (walking, cycling), animal powered, or driven by steam, oil or electricity. All forms of transportation also make demands upon the environment through which they pass: competing for road space, requiring management and in the case of most non-human powered transport polluting the environment. There is much research on transport history but for the most part it remains separate from studies of migration and mobility. This chapter explores the benefits of greater interaction between these fields of enquiry, examines some of the ways in which planners and policy makers have sought to manage transport and travel over time, and considers the implications that this has both for the environment and for social equity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To get a flavour of the range of research see the Journal of Transport History: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal-of-transport-history/journal202520

  2. 2.

    Exceptions are most likely to be found in the more recent issues of the T2M yearbook: http://t2m.org/publications/yearbook/, and in some papers in Transfers: http://t2m.org/publications/transfers/

  3. 3.

    See for instance the work of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and George Gissing among many others who described aspects of nineteenth-century urban and rural life.

  4. 4.

    Diary of Raleigh Trevelyan, Wigan Archives Service, Leigh (ECH/191). Entry for December 22nd, 1813.

  5. 5.

    Manuscript autobiography of Amos Kniveton (author’s private collection).

  6. 6.

    Diary of Joseph Yates, 1826–1896 (author’s private collection).

  7. 7.

    A good source of statistics on travel in many countries is the Victoria Transport Policy Institute Encyclopaedia of Transportation Statistics: http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm80.htm

  8. 8.

    International travel with armed forces is also significant, though not discussed here.

  9. 9.

    Journal of John James, 1847–1880. (author’s personal collection). A transcript of this journal is also in the Cornish Studies Library, Redruth.

  10. 10.

    Respondent RJ04, Manchester, 1950s. See Pooley et al. (2005) for more details.

  11. 11.

    Diary of John Leeson, August 5th, 1852. Bishopsgate Institute Archive, London: GDP/8.

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Pooley, C.G. (2017). Mobility in History Through the Lens of Transport. In: Mobility, Migration and Transport. Palgrave Studies in Migration History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51883-1_4

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