An Integrative Conception of Micromobility: Its Technical Tendency, Its Appropriation, and the Role of Mobile Interfaces
Résumé
This article develops a heuristic framework for analyzing “micromobility” by integrating
transportation and communication perspectives. Micromobility involves small electric
vehicles, such as scooters and electric bicycles, and their digital user interfaces in the form
of apps or embedded screens. We see the defining characteristic of micromobility not in
the vehicles’ weight, size, or even motorization but in their tendency to deploy motive
power seamlessly in their users’ everyday lives. Micromobility practices emerge through
the appropriation of new vehicles as transportation and communication devices and the
reappropriation and expansion of users’ territories through these vehicles. By combining
the characteristics of technical tendencies and social appropriation, our framework
highlights critical issues in the evolution of micromobility, including users’ autonomy and
privacy, and the collective values of equal accessibility, urban cohesion, and sociability. It
also indicates how mobile interfaces may intervene to orient micromobility in desired
directions regarding these issues.
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