Inebriation and immobility
Abstract
Poor and/or young urban residents often use public transport spaces (such as rail, bus and taxi termini and halts) most intensively and most often. Regulation of alcohol advertising, sale, purchase and consumption in these fixed 'commotional' sites - and in public passenger vehicles – has been and is undertaken to achieve technical, legalistic specifications of passenger comfort, vehicle operating safety, and public order. This research speculates that such regulation creates distinctive urbanities and affects young, poor (and illiterate) urban citizens in particular ways. These ways may include increased prices of alcohol, dispossession of alcohol, fines, ejection from a space or vehicle, and / or inconsistent or lax application of local authority and transit operator by-laws. The research builds on interview and participant observation fieldwork undertaken in Cape Town to explore the ways in which alcohol is regulated and consumed in transportation spaces, and how this shapes mobility and the city itself.
Citation
Pirie, G. Inebriation and immobility. Presented at Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting, New York, NY, 24 February 2012. (2012)