The role of life course and gender in mobility patterns: a spatiotemporal sequence analysis in Barcelona

Citizens participate in various activities to fulfill their needs, advance their socio-economic status, and enhance their well-being through social and health-related engagements. However, activity participation is influenced by many factors in the built environment, such as the spatial and temporal dissemination of activities, which therefore necessitate travel to overcome physical distances. Moreover, individual attributes such as gender, daily schedules, and other socio-economic characteristics also influence mobility patterns. In this paper, we aim to investigate these factors in the specific context of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area using three different samples of residents from annual mobility surveys conducted between 2018 and 2020. To this end, we employ a sequence analysis method that examines the entire trajectory of an individual’s daily activities and travel, considering the number, order, and duration of activities. In this way, we analyse in detail how various individual characteristics and the built environment influence the fragmentation of activities. Our study yields multiple results. First, we find that even in a transport-oriented city, the fragmentation of activities is shaped by gender, especially after age 30, when major changes occur in an individual’s life course, in particular caring responsibilities and family status. Second, we observe that the educational level and year of the sample also play a central role in shaping mobility patterns. Finally, our paper makes a methodological contribution by defining sequence distances, after projecting the original space onto the factorial one defined by the Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study shows that mobility policies should not focus solely on transport aspects, but also consider the built environment, dwelling location, gender, equity, and individual lifetime characteristics in an integrated manner.