Papers by Anna Nikolaeva
Applied Mobilities
The dominant tradition in transport planning and policy practice considers travel as a derived ac... more The dominant tradition in transport planning and policy practice considers travel as a derived activity and travel time as an economic disutility. A growing body of literature is challenging this perspective, demonstrating that being 'on the move' is a rich experience interlaced with profound shared and individual meanings that can have positive implications on quality of life, well-being and personal development. Yet, mobility in general, and commuting in particular, is often reported as one of the least pleasant daily experiences and as a source of massive environmental impacts. This exploratory article hypothesizes that flow theory, based on Csikszentmihalyi´s seminal work on optimal states of consciousness, has the potential to offer important insights that can contribute to research and policy action on achieving both sustainable and satisfying forms of daily mobility. The article draws on an online exploratory questionnaire in order to reflect on flow theory in relation to the capacity of different mobility modes to either facilitate or constrain the occurrence and duration of optimal states of consciousness. Preliminary conclusions provide a basis for outlining a set of future research directions aimed at better understanding mobility experiences and their relationships with flow theory.
Mobilities
Cycling is increasingly seen as a solution to a large variety of urban problems, and as such cont... more Cycling is increasingly seen as a solution to a large variety of urban problems, and as such continues to inspire innovations that aim to upscale cycling to unprecedented levels. Taken to the extreme, these ideas promise a future 'Velotopia' in which cycling constitutes a dominant or single mobility mode. Focusing its attention on Dutch cycling innovations and two recently envisaged cycling utopias by Steven Fleming and Cosmin Popan, the present paper offers a critical exploration of current velotopian urban imaginaries. It does so by tracing their ideological ancestry back to two visionary urban designs of the 20 th century: the dense city of speed and efficiency of Le Corbusier, and the endless Babylon of Constant where mobility is a means of discovery, play and human interaction. Our analysis shows that both Corbusian and Constantian understandings of mobility are reflected in current velotopian imaginaries, not only in opposition but also in combination with each other. This combination of Corbusian and Constantian velotopian imaginaries, we suggest, has largely become part of mainstream urban discourses instead of providing a radical alternative to them.
Transfers, 2017
Despite a surge of multidisciplinary interest in transition studies on low-carbon mobilities, the... more Despite a surge of multidisciplinary interest in transition studies on low-carbon mobilities, there has been little evaluation of the current state of the field, and the contributions of different approaches such as the multi-level perspective (MLP), theories of practice, or the new mobilities paradigm. As a step in this direction, this contribution brings together scholars representing different theoretical perspectives and disciplinary fields in order to discuss processes and uneven geographies of mobility transitions as they are currently theorized. First, we reflect upon the role of geographers and other social scientists in envisioning, enabling, and criticizing mobility transitions. Second, we discuss how different theoretical approaches can develop mobility transitions scholarship. Finally, we highlight emerging issues in mobility transitions research.
Transactions of the Institute of the British Geographers, 2019
Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyo... more Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyond technocentrism to rethink the very meaning of mobility in cities, communities, and societies. This paper demonstrates that such rethinking is inherently political. In particular, we focus on recent theorisations of commoning practices that have gained traction in geographic literatures. Drawing on our global comparative research of low-carbon mobility transitions, we argue that critical mobilities scholars can rethink and expand the understanding of mobility through engagement with commons-enclosure thinking. We present a new concept, "commoning mobility," a theorisation that both envisions and shapes practices that develop fairer and greener mobilities and more inclusive, collaboratively governed societies. Our analysis introduces three "logics" of mobility transition projects. First, the paper discusses how a logic of scarcity has been a driver for mobility planning as the scarcity of oil, finance, space, and time are invoked across the world as stimuli for aspiring to greener, "smarter," and cheaper mobilities. The paper then identifies two responses to the logic of scarcity: the logics of austerity and the logics of commoning. Austere mobilities are examined to problematise the distribution of responsibility for emissions and ensuing injustices and exclusion in low-carbon transitions. The logics of commoning shows a potential to reassess mobility not only as an individual freedom but also as a collective good, paving the way for fairer mobility transitions and a collaborative tackling of sustainable mobility challenges.
Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyo... more Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyond technocentrism and rethinking the very meaning of mobility in cities and societies. This paper demonstrates that such rethinking is inherently political and requires engagement with wider debates on the politics of transitions. In particular, we focus on recent theorisations of the commons and sharing practices that have gained traction in geographic and urban studies literatures. Drawing on our global comparative research on low-carbon mobility transitions, this paper argues that critical mobilities scholars can rethink and expand the understading of mobility through engagement with commons thinking, and develops a new concept, 'commoning mobility', that can help realise fairer and greener mobilities and more inclusive, collaboratively governed cities.
To cite this article: Marco te Brömmelstroet, Anna Nikolaeva, Meredith Glaser, Morten Skou Nicola... more To cite this article: Marco te Brömmelstroet, Anna Nikolaeva, Meredith Glaser, Morten Skou Nicolaisen & Carmen Chan (2017) Travelling together alone and alone together: mobility and potential exposure to diversity, Applied Mobilities, 2:1, 1-15
Despite a surge of multidisciplinary interest in transition studies on low-carbon mobilities, the... more Despite a surge of multidisciplinary interest in transition studies on low-carbon mobilities, there has been little evaluation of the current state of the field, and the contributions of different approaches such as the multi-level perspective (MLP), theories of practice, or the new mobilities paradigm. As a step in this direction, this contribution brings together scholars representing different theoretical perspectives and disciplinary fields in order to discuss processes and uneven geographies of mobility transitions as they are currently theorized. First, we reflect upon the role of geographers and other social scientists in envisioning, enabling, and criticizing mobility transitions. Second, we discuss how different theoretical approaches can develop mobility transitions scholarship. Finally, we highlight emerging issues in mobility transitions research.
The paper investigates airport design, using the example of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, from the ... more The paper investigates airport design, using the example of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, from the point of view of managers, architects and designers. It is argued that existing accounts of the airport as a space of transit as well as a place for shopping and entertainment have underrated the complexity and interdependency of the interests at stake in the airport design, as well the value of an airport terminal as an urban design exercise. This is particularly relevant in the discussion of the transformation of spaces of mobility, such as airports or railway stations, into multifunctional public spaces and may also be valid for urban spaces where mobilities are becoming increasingly important. The paper analyses the challenges and opportunities that arise in such design situations, tracing the recent transformations of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol from the perspective of professionals who have played a key role in this process."
Book chapters by Anna Nikolaeva
This is a chapter in the edited collection Mobilising Design. Available through google books http... more This is a chapter in the edited collection Mobilising Design. Available through google books https://goo.gl/7tCj5H or personal request.
ABSTRACT
While earlier literatures on airports portrayed an international terminal as an immaculate ordered world inhabited by anonymous docile passengers, gradually a more dynamic and even messy image of the airport came into view. Mobilities scholars have discussed how airport design is shaped by considerations related to logistics, security and commercial interests and pointed to the tensions between those. Yet what remains a blind spot in the discussion of the rationales behind airport design is the figure of the mobile subject who is supposed to move from A to B without delay, not cause any disturbance and, preferably, shop. The image of an anonymous, docile passenger is gradually being substituted by a more complicated portrait through the discussion of passengers’ experiences but it remains unclear what kind of a mobile subject is imagined as the user of the airport and how that image influences airport design.
How are passengers envisioned? How do different stakeholders see passengers’ needs? The analysis based on interviews with airport design professionals suggests that just as the design of different spaces within the airport is a contested subject, so is the vision of passengers’ needs, desires and capabilities. When stakeholders, such as architects, designers and managers representing different departments, debate design decisions, they mobilize particular ideas about passengers’ behaviour to defend their views. The transformations of the imagined mobile subject in such discussions thus reflect the transformation of the space itself, shaped by a diversity of sometimes conflicting interests.
Megastructure Schiphol . Design in Spectacular Simplicity, 2013
Books by Anna Nikolaeva
The Amsterdam Airport Schipol can genuinely be called a megastructure. Originally opened in 1916,... more The Amsterdam Airport Schipol can genuinely be called a megastructure. Originally opened in 1916, Schipol has been added to in fits and starts over the years, maintaining throughout its construction an extraordinary consistency and simplicity of design, and expanding to become a city in its own right. Now one of the world’s busiest airports, Schipol enjoys an iconic status in Holland, and not only because of its sheer scale--its signage, for example, developed by the information design firm Mijksenaar, has been adopted by airports all around the world and is admired today as a classic motif of Dutch Design. Megastructure Schipol looks at the history of Schipol: its metamorphoses over the years; its function as a model for other airports; and its unique accommodation of the surrounding metropolis, in terms of economics, infrastructure, design and image-making.
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Papers by Anna Nikolaeva
Book chapters by Anna Nikolaeva
ABSTRACT
While earlier literatures on airports portrayed an international terminal as an immaculate ordered world inhabited by anonymous docile passengers, gradually a more dynamic and even messy image of the airport came into view. Mobilities scholars have discussed how airport design is shaped by considerations related to logistics, security and commercial interests and pointed to the tensions between those. Yet what remains a blind spot in the discussion of the rationales behind airport design is the figure of the mobile subject who is supposed to move from A to B without delay, not cause any disturbance and, preferably, shop. The image of an anonymous, docile passenger is gradually being substituted by a more complicated portrait through the discussion of passengers’ experiences but it remains unclear what kind of a mobile subject is imagined as the user of the airport and how that image influences airport design.
How are passengers envisioned? How do different stakeholders see passengers’ needs? The analysis based on interviews with airport design professionals suggests that just as the design of different spaces within the airport is a contested subject, so is the vision of passengers’ needs, desires and capabilities. When stakeholders, such as architects, designers and managers representing different departments, debate design decisions, they mobilize particular ideas about passengers’ behaviour to defend their views. The transformations of the imagined mobile subject in such discussions thus reflect the transformation of the space itself, shaped by a diversity of sometimes conflicting interests.
Books by Anna Nikolaeva
ABSTRACT
While earlier literatures on airports portrayed an international terminal as an immaculate ordered world inhabited by anonymous docile passengers, gradually a more dynamic and even messy image of the airport came into view. Mobilities scholars have discussed how airport design is shaped by considerations related to logistics, security and commercial interests and pointed to the tensions between those. Yet what remains a blind spot in the discussion of the rationales behind airport design is the figure of the mobile subject who is supposed to move from A to B without delay, not cause any disturbance and, preferably, shop. The image of an anonymous, docile passenger is gradually being substituted by a more complicated portrait through the discussion of passengers’ experiences but it remains unclear what kind of a mobile subject is imagined as the user of the airport and how that image influences airport design.
How are passengers envisioned? How do different stakeholders see passengers’ needs? The analysis based on interviews with airport design professionals suggests that just as the design of different spaces within the airport is a contested subject, so is the vision of passengers’ needs, desires and capabilities. When stakeholders, such as architects, designers and managers representing different departments, debate design decisions, they mobilize particular ideas about passengers’ behaviour to defend their views. The transformations of the imagined mobile subject in such discussions thus reflect the transformation of the space itself, shaped by a diversity of sometimes conflicting interests.