Marginalised groups

In our research, we categorise marginalised groups based on the key components that generate or amplify accessibility-related exclusion.
These are understood to include, but not limited to low income (Fol et al. 2007; Matas et al. 2009; Tao et al. 2020), higher age (Páez et al. 2009), physical and mental disabilities (Casas 2007; Burkhardt and Kerschner 2007), women (Iqbal et al. 2020; Plyushteva and Boussauw 2020) or transgender (Lubitow et al. 2020), remote localities with poor transport connections (Church et al. 2000; Lee and Lim 2009), and lack of a car (Allen and Farber 2020; Mattioli 2014). Among other responses to COVID19, apart from the lockdown restrictions was social distancing which meant that those who were able to use their personal vehicles to avoid risk of infection in public spaces, had a higher accessibility compared to those who depended on public transport. The limited spaces in public transport, in an attempt to adhere to the distancing regulations, resulted in lower accessibility for those who lacked a personal vehicle. The impact of the disruption of urban transport systems due to the pandemic and implications for urban accessibility inequalities have not yet been studied in detail. But also in more general terms, scholars in the field have hitherto paid little attention to how changes of urban mobility systems – be it long-term changes of the governance, organisation or the technologies or sudden disruptions of the system – impact on the livelihood of marginalised groups as a result of reduced accessibility and mobility.