Abstract
This study investigates the understudied relationship between post-/pandemic mobility adaptations and wellbeing outcomes, drawing on a longitudinal mixed-method approach combining survey analyses and in-depth citizen interviews conducted between 2019 and 2022 in Oslo, Norway. Qualitative analyses explore the depth and diversity of pandemic mobility adaptations and the implications for hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Factor and structural equation models confirm statistical evidence for three pandemic coping strategies – working from home, avoiding spaces of infection, and (enjoyment of) the local environment – with respectively neutral, negative and positive impacts on satisfaction with life. The post-pandemic ability to be more mobile and attend diverse activities again is by many perceived as positive, but people struggle to maintain cherished aspects of the slower-paced, localised lifestyles adopted during the pandemic. We discuss the significance of our findings for inclusive pandemic resilience, and reflect on the lessons relevant for addressing another crisis – climate change.
Read article
The article is published as Open Access and can be read at the Publisher's web pages.
Authors
- Sindre Cottis Hoff, Centre for Development and the Environment,
Institute of Transport Economics - Lars Böcker, Institute of Transport Economics
- Ulrikke Bryn Wethal, Centre for Development and the Environment