[sustran] Mobile Lives Forum: a novel initiative fostering critical research and debate on the transition to alternative mobility systems

[Javier Caletrío]

www.forumviesmobiles.org



The Mobile Lives Forum is an independent
institute created in 2011 to foster critical research and debate about mobility
futures. In collaboration with research centres worldwide we produce original
research, organize thought-provoking events and pioneer new ways of knowing and
debating based on the collaboration between the arts, the social sciences and
transportation studies and practitioners.



Aware of the challenges posed by the
current economic, energy and environmental crises, the Mobile Lives Forum
expands debate on the transition to alternative mobility systems by encouraging
critical viewpoints on mobility and the ‘good life’: Is a mobile life a ‘good
life’? Could new combinations of physical travel and telecommunications enhance
human flourishing and facilitate a transition to low-carbon mobilities? What
are the different and contested mobility futures involved in diverse notions of
the ‘good life’? 



In addressing these questions we are
driven by the ‘mobilities turn’ in the social sciences and especially its
concern with social futures. The possibility to imagine social futures can
disturb established ways of thought and practice and prompt alternative
worldviews. The Mobile Lives Forum is opening up new spaces to imagine mobility
futures by bringing together a transnational collective of artists, scholars,
mobility researchers and transportation practitioners. 

The Mobile Lives Forum has been created by
the state-owned SNCF (French railways). From its location in the heart of
Paris, the institute links with communities of scholars, practitioners, artists
and activists across the world and is concerned with mobile lives and mobility
systems in all continents, including emerging powers and nations in the Global
South. 



Interactive Website

www.forumviesmobiles.org


The Mobile
Lives Forum interactive website (in
English and French) is addressed to
students, scholars, artists and practitioners seeking to be updated with and
participate in debates about mobility worldwide. 



With your
help, the website will become a dynamic space for learning and exchange on
mobility. By creating your account,
you can comment on the videos, audio reports and texts posted every week by members of the international mobility
community. These include current theoretical and practical debates, news
commentaries and works of art. You can
also take part in writing entries for the mobility lexicon, submit
issues for discussion and participate in virtual workshops. In the website you can find out about the Forum’s art and
science projects and much more.


To contact
the Forum with your suggestions, observations and questions, go to webmaster at forumviesmobiles.org


We hope you
enjoy browsing and taking part in our website!


The Mobile Lives Forum®