Segregation and daily mobility, an international comparison

Abstract

While there is a great deal of literature on the socio-economic specialization of residential spaces, little has been written about the other spaces of the city that articulate citizens' daily lives. This paper examines urban segregation through the lens of individual everyday mobility in three cities: Lyons in France, Puebla in Mexico and Niamey in Niger. This comparison serves to highlight particularly strong trends that structure everyday patterns of activity and use of urban spaces (despite important differences of the modal shares). Between choices and constraints, citizens move in spaces that differ according to demographic, economic and geographic features. The latter are dealt with in transport household surveys carried out in each city, on which our research method is based. Urban areas of each city were selected and behaviors of individuals were studied in terms of activities and daily mobility. The study pursues two purposes: the characterization of individuals' travel-activity patterns and the description of the relationship of these patterns to a large range of variables (individuals' and households' characteristics). Transport and activities behavior vary greatly according to the particular social group under study, partly because of their unequal access to means of transport. Constraints related to social and economic status are particularly relevant in explaining these differences. Gender also appears to be a central factor in the analysis of segregation in some neighborhoods of Puebla, Lyons and Niamey. An original insight into urban segregation is finally obtained, based on individuals and on activities in space and time.