SPATIAL MOBILITY AND SOCIAL-CHANGE - THE MOBILE AND THE IMMOBILE

Patterns of spatial mobility, in terms of regular trip-making, are here used as indicators of rural lifestyles and social change. Analysis is based on the results of surveys in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, conducted in 1979 and 1989. The aims are first, to examine the extent of change in travel patterns between these dates in the context of longer term continuity, and second, to illustrate the disparity between mobile and immobile groups within the rural population. In the light of rising car ownership many general trends are predictable, but immobile groups persist and appear to suffer disadvantage. Rural infrastructure is not necessarily declining, yet buses are spurned in favour of lifts in other people's cars.