Everyday Life, Daily Mobility and the Coping Strategies of People Living in Peripheral Localities

• Published in: Sociologický časopis 2011-01, Vol.47 (4), p.831-858
• Main Authors: Temelová, Jana, Novák, Jakub, Pospíšilová, Lucie, Dvořáková, Nina
• Format: Article
• Language: cze ; eng
• Subjects: Czech Republic; Employment; Everyday life; Geography; Methodology; Public infrastructure; Rural areas; Social mobility; Time; Villages
• ISSN: 0038-0288; 2336-128X
• DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.4.09

The availability of labour, education, services and transportation significantly influences the quality of life in urban and rural areas. The supply of job opportunities and services is not sufficient in rural and peripheral villages and particularly young and well-educated people often respond by migrating. The people who remain cope with the problems of accessibility by various commuting methods. However, the poor supply of jobs and social infrastructure may be a source of considerable problems for less mobile people trying to satisfy basic needs. This article employs in-depth case study research to evaluate the daily mobility of people in peripheral municipalities in Western Bohemia. It aims to identify the problems and barriers in the everyday life of the local population and to identify forms of daily mobility related to work and service provision. It evaluates how the lack of job opportunities and basic civic amenities influences the everyday strategies that people adopt to cope with the spatial mismatch between the place of residence and the place where jobs and services are located. The daily mobility and strategies of people living in municipalities are set in the context of post-communist changes in commuting behaviour. Theoretically and methodologically the article draws on the strong tradition of time geography. Reprinted by permission of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic