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Mobility, suggested John Urry, is fundamental as one of “the infrastructures of social life” (13). Yet mobilities are as equally undergirded by infrastructures of systems that can both enable and disable mobilities. This special issue emerged from the 2022 Global Mobility Humanities Conference, and in this introductory article we open out several problematics which framed some of the conference and introduce further the themes explored by the special issue papers. First, we tease out the academic networks, practices and relations of a broader “infrastructuring” of the (mobility) humanities. Secondly, while theorising a mobility humanities of infrastructure, we introduce the papers by way of exploring several cross-cutting concerns. That is, we discuss how the methodological possibilities stimulated by a humanistic lens may produce nuanced accounts of infrastructures (“Methods as Infrastructures”); how mobility humanities can present the polyvocality of infrastructures, enlarging the conceptualisation of both infrastructure and infrastructuring (“Pluralising Infrastructures”); and how infrastructures can be interrogated ethically and politically in terms of a wide variety of critical issues that pertain to mobility equality, sustainability, and inclusiveness, that is, the notion of mobility justice (“[Ex]change: The [Broken] Promises of Infrastructures.” Thus, we hope this special issue functions as a powerful and productive trigger to stimulate more encounters and develop generative conversations.

This paper explores the concepts of routes and routing in the context of human mobility, shedding light on how routes shape movements and contribute to the formation and transformation of kinetic hierarchies. While significant attention has been given to roads, paths, railways, canals and other forms of route in mobility studies, these have not cohered into critical accounts of routes and routing. People and things do not move at random across an isotropic plain. This is the first lesson of mobility—people and things follow, and create, routes. This paper argues for a theorisation of routes and routing through an examination of approaches to routes in art and theory, exploring how routes create infrastructures of power as well as the use of selfmade routes—desire lines—to trace out possible alternatives to the nfrastructural present. The analysis of routes and routing forms a key part of a wider politics of mobility. The paper argues that while borders have received substantial theoretical attention, routes and routing have been relatively undertheorised in mobility studies and elsewhere. It asks what would happen if we theorised routes and routing in a similar way to the theorisation of borders and bordering?

What are the stories we tell about infrastructures and what stories do infrastructures tell (about) us? We propose a paper in a hybrid verbo-visual format, including comic-pages created by Giada Peterle and based on Tina Harris’s keynote at the 2022 GMHC conference, autoethnographic notes, and visuals collected during fieldwork. Through experimenting with graphic storytelling, we highlight examples of infrastructural revelation and concealment, drawing on the figure of the shapeshifter as both a metaphor and a method for mobilising infrastructural imagination. What unites shapeshifters in many of the stories and myths we read is how they are taken up in different ways; how they simultaneously present both the potential to improve human lives as well as produce fear due to their unpredictability. By focusing specifically on the narrative of one shapeshifting infrastructure—the Taxibot, a vehicle designed to cut down on carbon emissions and improve efficiency at airports—we use comics as a research practice for exploring this metaphor and developing a broader understanding of how mobile lives and imaginaries shape infrastructure (and vice versa). We argue that paying closer attention to storytelling can generate new understandings of the uneven nexus between infrastructures and mobile lives, weaving in our understanding of infrastructural im/mobilities.

This paper posits that Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose may be read as a postmodernist critique of the Middle Ages from the lens of spatiotemporal mobility theory. Specifically, an aesthetic infrastructure of mobility is deployed through a three-tiered conception of time; namely: (1) chronological-historical time, (2) psychological/sensuous time, and (3) the time invoked by the novel as a palimpsest. Spatially, the novel is built on a fluid concept of the pilgrimage that is deployed through the following aesthetic frames: (1) as a theological/religious construct; (2) as a physical representation of mobility; and, (3) as a psychological pilgrimage embarked by the characters and the readers as they make sense of the narrative/novel as a palimpsest. The article also references Ian Davidson’s idea of “mobilities of form,” Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope, Joseph Frank’s spatiality of literature premise, Henri Bergson’s categories of time, and Eco’s own theoretical reflections on the Middle Ages as a cultural construct in order to support the premise that the novel deploys a spatio-temporal mobility aesthetic. Additionally, it offers textual mobility as a consequence of spatio-temporal aesthetic.

This paper builds on the work in the fields of mobility and art to discuss the contribution of an ongoing collaboration between a self-identified queer, Deaf, and disabled art practitioner, Asphyxia, and two non-disabled geographers. The paper captures our collaboration in the context of a participatory art project and exhibition called Wheel-Ability aimed at addressing everyday ableism and accessing public space. We draw on the concept of kin-aesthetics in creative practice and online/digital conversations to understand powered wheelchair movement and advocate for mobility justice. Our discussion is structured into two sections: questioning creative practice and advocating for mobility justice. The first discusses how Asphyxia’s creative practice aim, as a visual artist, is for self-expression and to connect with others through the experiences of viewing her art. The second offers a collaborative critical analysis of two paintings Asphyxia contributed to the exhibition titled: Sorry, the Lifestyle You Ordered Has Expired and The Frustrations of Horizontal Living. Through collaboration with disabled artists, creative methods can enhance the appreciation of the sensory in shaping the reciprocal relationship between mobility infrastructure, self, journeys, and mobility justice.

While kinetic elites enjoy seamless movement through international airport terminals, we know that global aeromobilities rely upon infrastructures of immobility. For those without the correct passport, visa, or wealth, mobility is denied, passengers are detained, and such frustrated travellers and unwanted migrants are often held in detention centres. These infrastructures of immobility are just out of public view, tucked around the back of major airports or situated deep in the urban industrial sprawl. In this visual essay we traverse the suburb of Pinkenba, a small industrial port area on the Brisbane River, Australia. This site is home to many of the infrastructures of international mobility that connect Brisbane-Meanjin with the world, including a large detention centre and a new quarantine station. However, the shorelines of Pinkenba serve as another important kind of mobility infrastructure: they are the seasonal home of migratory bird species. This ecological hub within the global network of avian mobilities is being threatened by inexorable expansion of mobility infrastructures. Our exploration, therefore, manoeuvres between two very different types of migrants rendered immobile by the geopolitical forces of mobility hubs—from the asylum seeker to the avian species.

In countries of the Global South, large numbers of uneducated women work in the service sector. As nannies and domestic workers, they provide vital care to wealthier population groups. For lack of resources, the women live in peripheral communities and rely on public transportation to travel to work. Mobility infrastructure, however, is seldomly planned for the disadvantaged’s needs. Thus, service sector workers face daily logistical and time challenges that impede on their lives and wellbeing. Presenting ethnographic data from a 5-year research project on domestic workers’ daily commutes in Bogotá, Colombia, in this article I illustrate women’s mobility challenges. Public transportation is over-crowded and delayed; petty crime and sexual harassment are wide-spread; and fringe areas of the city remain underserved. Women’s experiences highlight how gender intersects with local labour regimes and infrastructure to “fracture” domestic workers’ lives; they are caught between time poverty, physical exhaustion, and multiple care demands. Urban stratification is importantly (re)produced in and through mobility. The article illuminates the spatial, social, and economic interconnection limiting women’s lives and possibilities. Spatial justice for impoverished and disadvantaged populations, I argue, must address gender, local labour regimes, transportation, and care infrastructures as inherently interdependent and unequal regimes of power.

In countries of the Global South, large numbers of uneducated women work in the service sector. As nannies and domestic workers, they provide vital care to wealthier population groups. For lack of resources, the women live in peripheral communities and rely on public transportation to travel to work. Mobility infrastructure, however, is seldomly planned for the disadvantaged’s needs. Thus, service sector workers face daily logistical and time challenges that impede on their lives and wellbeing. Presenting ethnographic data from a 5-year research project on domestic workers’ daily commutes in Bogotá, Colombia, in this article I illustrate women’s mobility challenges. Public transportation is over-crowded and delayed; petty crime and sexual harassment are wide-spread; and fringe areas of the city remain underserved. Women’s experiences highlight how gender intersects with local labour regimes and infrastructure to “fracture” domestic workers’ lives; they are caught between time poverty, physical exhaustion, and multiple care demands. Urban stratification is importantly (re)produced in and through mobility. The article illuminates the spatial, social, and economic interconnection limiting women’s lives and possibilities. Spatial justice for impoverished and disadvantaged populations, I argue, must address gender, local labour regimes, transportation, and care infrastructures as inherently interdependent and unequal regimes of power.

This essay explores the cultural significance of jeepney art and symbolism in the Philippines, especially within the ongoing Public Utility Vehicle Modernisation Program (PUVMP). Employing insights from automobility studies, it investigates how these cultural symbols distinctly reflect and shape Filipino identities and narratives. Through semiotic analysis a variety of motifs reveal values, aspirations, and social realities unique to Filipino culture. The article also emphasises the role of jeepneys as essential components of the Philippines’ unique transportation system, and as integral elements of both urban landscapes and social interactions. This aspect is further elaborated by considering the potential cultural implications of the jeepney modernisation program. The discussion underscores the importance of understanding the socio-political dimensions of this transformation. Moreover, the paper brings to light the critical need for further research into these socio-cultural impacts. This is particularly relevant as the modernization program progresses, potentially altering the traditional jeepney landscape. Concluding, the paper suggests that future modernisation efforts in the Philippines should thoughtfully consider preserving cultural heritage. This could involve incorporating traditional jeepney art into the design of new vehicles, symbilising an important balance between modernisation and cultural preservation. This signifies the importance of balancing modernisation with cultural preservation, a theme echoed in urban mobility studies.

As Noel B. Salazar maintains, anthropology, which straddles social sciences and humanities, provides distinct perspectives on mobility research by dismantling concepts and theories that presume unitary cultures in fixed places. This brief contribution considers two facets of such an anthropological approach to mobilities: imagination and scale. Imagination can be used not only as a subject but also as a method of studying mobility. In particular, the “following” methods of mobility research require imaginative mobilities, which are linked to the representation of mobility in works of literature and art, making it a key area of research within the field of mobility humanities. Furthermore, the concept of scale presents a significant methodological challenge in mobility studies. If mobility research employs a multiscalar approach to mobilities, it becomes evident that the transnational scale is manifested within the national scale. Additionally, it becomes clear that mobility at one scale can coexist with immobility at another, challenging the binary opposition of immobility and mobility. In this context, the new mobilities paradigm challenges the normalisation of stasis as well as the naturalisation of movement. Scrutinising notions of imagination and scale utilised in the anthropological approach to mobilities can defy preconceived assumptions in much mobility research that is based on such binaries.

Noel B. Salazar is Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven, Belgium. He is editor of the Worlds in Motion (Berghahn) book series, co-editor of Pacing Mobilities (2020), Methodologies of Mobility (2017), Keywords of Mobility (2016), Regimes of Mobility (2014) and Tourism Imaginaries (2014), and author of Momentous Mobilities (2018), Envisioning Eden (2010) and numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on mobility. Salazar sits on the editorial boards of, among others, Transfers, Applied Mobilities, Mobility Humanities, and Mobile Culture Studies Journal. He is founder of Cultural Mobilities Research (CuMoRe) and of the EASA Anthropology and Mobility Network (AnthroMob).

How do the majority of Filipinos in the Philippines, and to an extent locals of the Global South, live these days? US-based Filipino scholar, Neferti Tadiar, answers: that as “remainders”; they of “disposable lives” and as subalterns, agents of possible resistance in the liminalities of the “here” and “now.” She positions this condition of disposability, this “remaindered life,” also as an alternative mode of thinking and doing where survival ingenuity and splendour can flourish. This book extends her previous arguments in Things Fall Away: Philippine Historical Experience and the Makings of Globalization—her examination of postwar Philippines through its revolutionary literature, the feminisation of labour prompted by the presence of U.S. military bases, to the growth of the exportation of human labour, and rise of “civil society” and social movements since the last two decades of the twentieth century to Rodrigo Dutererte’s drug war in Life-Times of Becoming Human.