Putting Social Relationships to People, Things, and Places Centre Stage – Insights from a Qualitative Social Network Analysis

Given the transformative changes anticipated in the mobility sector, a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the stability and variability of travel behavior is important. In this paper, we employ insights derived from a qualitative social network analysis conducted in Karlsruhe, Germany. The primary objective of this study is to provide deeper insights into the factors that contribute to individuals’ daily life configurations and their changeability. Unlike the traditional approach of investigating activity categories, this research centers on the social relationships of individuals. To capture diverse activity purposes, a social network is defined as a web of relationships that connects people, things, and places. As such, people maintain social relationships not only with friends and relatives but also with entities such as sports clubs and supermarkets. Consequently, this study yields profound insights into the characteristics of social relationships and the determinants that lead to flexible or stable mobility patterns. The analysis is dominated by two pivotal factors affecting stability and variability: the spatio-temporal context and the emotional-affective context. The article contends that an emphasis on relationships provides a useful amendment to activity-based research approaches, as it offers a holistic perspective on the contextual elements that shape the stability and variability of individual's daily lives.