Social Impacts Through the Lens of Human Mobility

Human mobility connects to almost every aspect of social life. Mobility and transport systems that foster connectivity and proximity can enhance well-being for some, yet they can also deepen spatial and social inequalities when access remains unevenly distributed across places and when they are designed without accounting for diverse traveling needs.

At the same time, cities, rural areas, and regions are becoming increasingly complex, shaped by rapid demographic changes, evolving transport infrastructure, and shifting travel choices. These transformations are further influenced by recommending systems, disrupted by epidemics and extreme weather events, and shaped by socio-economic and political distress. Understanding how these interacting forces shape mobility patterns, accessibility, and social inclusion has become an urgent challenge for both policy and research.

New sources of mobility data and analytical tools now enable researchers to better understand how movement patterns relate to social outcomes with unprecedented detail. For example, we can measure differences in access to essential services, analyze how road conditions and transportation options influence health, shape urban space and affect the establishment of social connections, evaluate the impact of new mobility policies, or examine how new technology is deployed to influence community behavior. This growing knowledge offers a unique opportunity to design fairer, healthier, and more resilient systems for moving people across diverse contexts.

Yet, many critical questions remain:
• Which groups benefit most from investments in public transport and shared mobility?
• How do city structures influence the travel demand and travel behaviors of different communities?
• What are the links between mobility barriers and social exclusion?
• How can digital technologies or specific socio-demographic groups help improve equitable accessibility to services and opportunities rather than fostering existing disparities?

This Collection gathers contributions that study the social impact of human mobility at different scales and contexts. We welcome studies that examine travel behavior and its related impacts or relationships with, for example, accessibility to services, transport infrastructure, health and safety concerns, crisis responses, and the overall relationship between mobility and quality of life. We encourage interdisciplinary work that brings together data science, urban studies, transport research, public health, and the social sciences.

People travel to work, reach healthcare, attend school, enjoy recreation, and take part in community life. Yet mobility opportunities are not the same for everyone. Transport systems, land use decisions, service distribution, and travel costs can limit access for many groups. These inequalities affect health, income, safety, and overall well-being. Today, the availability of large-scale mobility data offers new ways to study how these disparities emerge and how they can be mitigated. Understanding the links between mobility and social outcomes has become essential for creating fair and resilient communities. Research in this area can highlight solutions that improve accessibility and support a better quality of life for all.

The goal of this Collection is to better understand how human mobility relates to social outcomes and everyday life. We aim to identify the conditions that enable people to move freely and safely, as well as the barriers that prevent equal access to opportunities. The objective is to generate evidence that can inform improved planning, fair policies, and inclusive mobility solutions.

We invite original research, reviews, data papers, and methodological contributions focused on the social implications of human mobility. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• How mobility influences access to jobs, education, and healthcare
• Disparities in mobility behavior across groups and their implications
• Accessibility of services and infrastructure for different groups
• The role of public transport and shared mobility in social inclusion
• How city structure shapes mobility and inequality
• Health risks and safety outcomes linked to mobility
• Resilience of mobility systems and uneven impacts during crises
• Digital tools and policies that support more inclusive mobility
• New methods that link mobility data with social indicators or quality of life outcomes
• How new technology (e.g., eVTOL) and the low-altitude economy affect mobility and inequality

We seek contributions that use a blend of big data, spatial analysis, mobility modeling, and scenario making to show how mobility can reduce or worsen inequalities. We also welcome studies that propose new tools, strategies, or technologies to support more accessible and healthy mobility systems.

This Collection encourages collaboration across fields to help shape cities and communities where mobility creates opportunities for all and improves well-being. All manuscripts should emphasize the societal dimension of mobility and provide insights that can inform more equitable planning and policy-making.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Human mobility, Accessibility, Inequality, Social inclusion, Mobility Data, Public transport

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.