Mobilities and commons unseen: spatial mobility in homeless people explored through the analysis of GPS tracking data
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Mobilities and commons unseen: spatial mobility in homeless people explored through the analysis of GPS tracking data Martin Sˇimon
. Petr Vasˇa´t . Hana Danˇkova´ . Petr Gibas . Marke´ta Pola´kova´
Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The aim of this study was to examine the spatial mobility of homeless people in urban areas, exploring homeless mobility, its drivers, limits and links to personal attributes, and whether there is an association between the extent of spatial activity and an individual’s housing situation. To our knowledge, there has been no prior exhaustive attempt to explore the spatial mobility of homeless people using Global Positioning System (GPS) location devices. The theoretical background of the research was based on time-geography approaches. The research used a mixed method approach involving participatory GPS mapping. Spatial mobility was measured by GPS location devices. GPS tracking made it possible to capture the precise location of a person in time and space, and subsequently to identify the daily and weekly mobility rhythms of such people. The GPS data were further contextualised by conducting interviews with homeless people and asking about their daily mobility. The groundwork for the interviews resulted in printed maps of the participants’ daily spatial mobility (n = 598). The combination of timelocation data and ethnographic methods presented several technical and organisational difficulties, but the pilot study provided valuable knowledge about the M. Sˇimon (&) P. Vasˇa´t H. Danˇkova´ P. Gibas M. Pola´kova´ Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilska 1, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected]
everyday-life mobility of homeless people in cities. A novel understanding of the links between homeless mobilities, urban commons and the life conditions of homeless people can inform current welfare policies relating to the poor. Keywords Mobility Homelessness GPS tracking Mixed-methods Gender Commons
Introduction Homelessness is a global phenomenon, challenging contemporary urban societies all over the world. The emergence of new homeless populations (Minnery and Greenhalgh 2007), the commonality of housing crises (Takahashi 1996), the deinstitutionalisation of care (Zlotnick et al. 2013), disease prevention (Beijer et al. 2012), and the spread of punitive policies (Johnsen and Fitzpatrick 2010; O’Sullivan 2012) have created a strong demand for a better understanding of current homelessness as a prerequisite for better public policy (Busch-Geertsema 2015; COST Action 15218 2016; Sˇimon et al. 2019). The body of homelessness research is increasing (DeVerteuil et al. 2009) and covers many aspects of homeless life, including less expected topics, such as leisure (Hodgetts and Stolte 2016) and digital communication (Reitzes et al. 2016). However, surprisingly little is known about the spatial mobility
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of homeless people (Rollinson 1998; Wolch and Rowe 1992). The
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