Session

The relationships between humankind and the environment have been determined by changes since the beginning of time. The development of humankind is characterized by the process of adaptation to change, in which mobility—despite its well-known limitations—has always played a prominent role. Nowadays, the speed of societal change has accelerated to a pace the world has never witnessed before. Standard obstacles to human mobility are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Means of communication, the free movement of persons and their freedom to work, the improvement of language skills, the infrastructure of transportation and other variables stimulate mobility, but mobility is demonstrating new, lesser-known features and effects as well. Mobility simultaneously exhibits characteristics of convergence (e.g. globalisation, integration, lifestyle) and divergence (e.g. national values, religiosity, local and regional traditions) on the global stage. Exploring and analysing the processes that create these dichotomous conditions is the proposed task of the IGU “Globility Commission”. We expect to receive Europe-focused abstracts that examine the latest trends in domestic and cross-border mobilities. We welcome research results that deal with the causes, characteristics and effects of mobilities convergence and/or divergence observed in the context of migration, tourism or transportation.