Leisure mobility: Situating emotional geographies of friluftsliv in urban mobility transitions

Abstract

In Norwegian culture, outdoor recreation in nature – such as hiking – is an important activity tied to the production of identity and aspirations of a ‘good life’. ‘Friluftsliv’ (outdoor life) in Norwegian entails a connection to specific places and particular forms of movement between and within these places. This paper examines such mobility practices among residents of Stavanger, a mid-sized coastal city, drawing on 24 interviews with leisure hikers, split between car owners and non-owners. We argue that friluftsliv remains closely connected to the automobility regime, and show the implications for the urban mobility transition, which builds on a strategy of moving past car-centric planning and aims to reduce car dependence. We show how urban mobility planning can benefit from a more nuanced and situated understanding of what mobility means, and how it produces meaning, in a local context. We do so by addressing how people engaged in friluftsliv around Stavanger situate this within their mobility practices, and how these individualised expressions of friluftsliv and mobility reflect upon the urban mobility transition. This article draws on literature from emotional geographies and mobilities research to conceptualise ‘friluftsliv’ as a form of ‘meaningful mobility’ produced through assemblages of emotions, space, and culture.