Mobility Edges

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a concept in motion that we call mobility edges. It is developed by combining and comparing insights from different academic fields such as ecology, economic geography, and citizenship studies, and addressing the importance of (disciplinary) edges as spaces of transition. Analogously, mobility edges can be seen as the transition zones, hybridities, overlaps, and porous boundaries between seemingly different types of mobility. Through the concept of mobility edges, we seek to enrich discussion around the politics of mobility. We shift our attention from unpacking particular types of mobility by its composite elements to “transitional zones” and relational politics that (re)produce mobilities in tandem. Edge-thinking, so we argue, not only shakes up the puzzling academic separation of mobilities studies and migration studies but also helps us understand how mobilities are shared and unshared across difference. In our conclusion, we reflect on how “edge” is a hopeful alternative for the terminology of borders that is so dominantly present in Europe (and elsewhere) today.