IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i8p4469-d789936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impacts of Commuting Practices on Social Sustainability and Sustainable Mobility

Author

Listed:
  • Melina Stein

    (ISOE—Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Luca Nitschke

    (ISOE—Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Laura Trost

    (ISOE—Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Ansgar Dirschauer

    (ISOE—Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

  • Jutta Deffner

    (ISOE—Institute for Social-Ecological Research, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

Abstract

Commuting is an integral part of many people’s everyday life providing a transition between private and working life. It does, however, lead to negative impacts at a personal and social-ecological level (health impacts, lack of time, climate emissions, etc.). This article is based on the transdisciplinary research project “CommuterLab” (PendelLabor), which investigates commuting practices in the German Rhine-Main region. Using a practice-theoretical approach, we conducted a qualitative empirical study to explore how commuters organise the transition between their personal life and job. Through our analysis, we were able to identify different meanings of commuting and its strong interconnection with other everyday practices. This allowed us to gain deep insight into the social (non-)sustainability of commuting. At the core of our results are four different types of commuting practice whose impact on social sustainability differs widely. Furthermore, since the interviews were conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, respondents had their first experience of strongly reduced commuting. This in turn allowed insights into the changing organisation of everyday life and the impact of reconfigured commuting practices on social sustainability. Based on these results, we drew conclusions about the dynamics of commuting in terms of social sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Melina Stein & Luca Nitschke & Laura Trost & Ansgar Dirschauer & Jutta Deffner, 2022. "Impacts of Commuting Practices on Social Sustainability and Sustainable Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-18, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:8:p:4469-:d:789936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4469/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4469/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nikita Jacob & Luke Munford & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts, 2021. "Does commuting mode choice impact health?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 207-230, February.
    2. Duco Vos & Evert Meijers & Maarten Ham, 2018. "Working from home and the willingness to accept a longer commute," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 61(2), pages 375-398, September.
    3. Chidambaram, Bhuvanachithra & Scheiner, Joachim, 2020. "Understanding relative commuting within dual-earner couples in Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 113-129.
    4. Farré, Lídia & Jofre-Monseny, Jordi & Torrecillas, Juan, 2020. "Commuting Time and the Gender Gap in Labor Market Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 13213, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jon M. Jachimowicz & Julia Lee Cunningham & Bradley R. Staats & Francesca Gino & Jochen I. Menges, 2021. "Between Home and Work: Commuting as an Opportunity for Role Transitions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 64-85, January.
    6. Kiron Chatterjee & Samuel Chng & Ben Clark & Adrian Davis & Jonas De Vos & Dick Ettema & Susan Handy & Adam Martin & Louise Reardon, 2020. "Commuting and wellbeing: a critical overview of the literature with implications for policy and future research," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 5-34, January.
    7. Peter Haller & Wolfgang Dauth, 2018. "Berufliches Pendeln in Deutschland [Economic Trends: Commuting to Work in German]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 98(8), pages 608-610, August.
    8. Konstantina Anastasiadou, 2021. "Sustainable Mobility Driven Prioritization of New Vehicle Technologies, Based on a New Decision-Aiding Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-27, April.
    9. Ben Clark & Kiron Chatterjee & Adam Martin & Adrian Davis, 2020. "How commuting affects subjective wellbeing," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 2777-2805, December.
    10. Thomas Skora & Heiko Rüger & Nico Stawarz, 2020. "Commuting and the Motherhood Wage Gap: Evidence from Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    11. Hjorthol, Randi & Vågane, Liva, 2014. "Allocation of tasks, arrangement of working hours and commuting in different Norwegian households," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 75-83.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paula Quentin & Jost Buscher & Thomas Eltner, 2023. "Transport Planning beyond Infrastructural Change: An Empirical Analysis of Transport Planning Practices in the Rhine-Main Region in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tao, Yinhua & van Ham, Maarten & Petrović, Ana & Ta, Na, 2023. "A household perspective on the commuting paradox: Longitudinal relationships between commuting time and subjective wellbeing for couples in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Palacios, Saúl, 2021. "Desplazamientos y autoempleo en Francia: diferencias por género [Commuting y self-employment in France: gender differences]," MPRA Paper 106555, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Inga Laß & Mark Wooden, 2023. "Working from Home and Work–Family Conflict," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 176-195, February.
    4. Jiankun Yang & Min He & Mingwei He, 2022. "Exploring the Group Difference in the Nonlinear Relationship between Commuting Satisfaction and Commuting Time," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Echeverría, Lucía & Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2022. "Active Commuting and the Health of Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 15572, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Franz Neuberger & Tobias Rüttenauer & Martin Bujard, 2022. "Where does public childcare boost female labor force participation? Exploring geographical heterogeneity across Germany 2007–2017," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(24), pages 693-722.
    7. José M. Casado-Díaz & Raquel Simón-Albert & Hipólito Simón, 2023. "Gender Differences in Commuting: New Evidence from Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 907-941, October.
    8. Philippe Askenazy & Verónica Escudero, 2022. "Dimension géographique des inégalités d’accès à l’emploi," Post-Print halshs-03801734, HAL.
    9. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2021. "Two-way commuting: Asymmetries from time use surveys," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    10. Inga Laß & Thomas Skora & Heiko Rüger & Mark Wooden & Martin Bujard, 2021. "Does temporary employment increase length of commuting: Longitudinal evidence from Australia and Germany," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n07, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    11. Jin, Eunae & Kim, Danya & Jin, Jangik, 2022. "Commuting time and perceived stress: Evidence from the intra- and inter-city commuting of young workers in Korea," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    12. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2022. "Trends in commuting time of European workers: A cross-country analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 327-342.
    13. Hu, Yang & van Wee, Bert & Ettema, Dick, 2023. "Intra-household decisions and the impact of the built environment on activity-travel behavior: A review of the literature," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    14. Varineja Drašler & Jasna Bertoncelj & Mojca Korošec & Tanja Pajk Žontar & Nataša Poklar Ulrih & Blaž Cigić, 2021. "Difference in the Attitude of Students and Employees of the University of Ljubljana towards Work from Home and Online Education: Lessons from COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, May.
    15. Barbora Mazúrová & Ján Kollár & Gabriela Nedelová, 2021. "Travel Mode of Commuting in Context of Subjective Well-Being—Experience from Slovakia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Peter Bäckström & Erika Sandow & Olle Westerlund, 2016. "Commuting and timing of retirement," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 125-152, January.
    17. Libin Han & Chong Peng & Zhenyu Xu, 2022. "The Effect of Commuting Time on Quality of Life: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.
    18. Liu, Jixiang & Xiao, Longzhu, 2023. "Non-linear relationships between built environment and commuting duration of migrants and locals," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    19. Gil Solá, Ana, 2016. "Constructing work travel inequalities: The role of household gender contracts," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 32-40.
    20. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Velilla, Jorge & Ortega, Raquel, 2022. "Revisiting excess commuting and self-employment: The case of Latin America," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1179, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:8:p:4469-:d:789936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.