Long-term and mid-term mobility during the life course

Abstract

Long-term and mid-term mobility of people involves on the one hand decisions about their residential locations and the corresponding moves. At the same time the places of education and employment play an important role. On the other hand the ownership of mobility tools, such as cars and different public transport season tickets are complementary elements in this process, which also bind substantial resources. These two aspects of mobility behaviour are closely connected to one another. A longitudinal perspective on these relationships is available from people's life courses, which link different dimensions of life together. Besides the personal and familial history locations of residence, education and employment as well as the ownership of mobility tools can be taken into account. In order to study the dynamics of long-term and mid- term mobility a retrospective survey covering the 20 year period from 1985 to 2004 was carried out in the year 2005 in a stratified sample of municipalities in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.