‘Watch the closing doors’- material interpellation, mobility affordance, and passenger sensations
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2025
Subject Area
planning - methods
Keywords
Mobilities, affordance, sensations, material interpellation, passengers
Abstract
The multi-sensorial and embodied experiences of ‘being transported’ as passengers are an important, but at times underemphasized, theme in transport policy and planning. Asking the key question ‘how does it feel?’ seems straight forward and yet still hard to accommodate in the realm of planning and transport policies. However, if the ‘way that we feel’ is what attunes us to be attracted (or the opposite) to different modes of transport, then the affective, embodied, and sensorial qualities of buses, subways, airplanes, and ferries is more than an issue of ‘comfort’ and competitive advantage (even though this is a central concern for public transport agencies in the post-covid 19 context). Rather, we should understand how the enrolment of human bodies into infrastructural systems and mobility technologies shape our experiences in the everyday life. This paper hones in on a few theoretical concepts developed under the umbrella of ‘mobilities design’. Seen as a field of ‘material pragmatism’ it presents concepts such as ‘material interpellation’, ‘mobility affordance’, ‘extended bodies’, and ‘osmosis’ as part of a vocabulary enabling a more granular understanding of how we experience the world as passengers.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Taylor&Francis, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Jensen, O. B. (2025). ‘Watch the closing doors’-material interpellation, mobility affordance, and passenger sensations. Mobilities, 20(4), 584-600.
