Free Access to Public Transportation for Ukrainian Refugees: Enhancing Social Participation and Inclusion Through Mobility - PhDData

Access database of worldwide thesis




Free Access to Public Transportation for Ukrainian Refugees: Enhancing Social Participation and Inclusion Through Mobility

The thesis was published by Holz, Marcella, in January 2023, Aalborg University.

Abstract:

This research aims to examine how Ukrainian refugees, who came to Sweden in 2022, experienced the use of free public transportation and further, how this has influenced their social inclusion into Swedish society. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than 8 million Ukrainians have been displaced, with more than 50.000 Ukrainian refugees arriving in Sweden. Following the beginning of the war, a wave of solidarity spread throughout Europe, offering the displaced Ukrainians a number of solidarity measures, here among free access to national and transnational public transportation. A measure that was somewhat unheard of until that point. Through a phenomenological ethnographic framework, this paper combines mobility studies and refugee studies to understand how national and regional public transportation is experienced and how it impacts everyday mobility for Ukrainian refugees. The collected data has been obtained through semi-structured interviews with 21 Ukrainian refugees, with assistance from a translator, and entails personal perceptions and experiences with the free access to public transportation. Following the inductive approach, the observations and experiences of the phenomenon of free access to public transportation have formed the use of the theories and concepts of Everyday Mobility, Time-Geography, (Im)mobility Justice, and Recognition Theory. The main findings illustrate how structures such as placement, economy, authority figures, physical capabilities, and culture influence everyday mobility and the use of public transportation. Further, it demonstrates the significant interconnectedness between transportation accessibility and social inclusion for Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, through social and legal recognition, the Ukrainian refugees are enabled to act within the formation of a social identity in their current context of time and space. The research concludes that the free ticket allowed Ukrainian refugees’ social participation in Swedish society while benefiting the individual’s mental and physical well-being, and enhanced various aspects that were favourable for inclusion into society. Nonetheless, the abolition of the free access to public transportation resulted in a restricted everyday mobility and increased social exclusion.



Read the last PhD tips