How discomfort fosters exclusion: Experiences of people with mobility impairments

Comfort and discomfort reflect how people experience their interaction with the environment and can shape mobility and activity levels. This relationship is particularly important when the built environment does not adequately accommodate diverse mobility capabilities, thereby restricting accessibility and participation in social life. People with mobility impairments in specific continue to encounter challenges. This study examines how discomfort emerges, co-occurs, and affects their everyday mobility. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 79 participants across six European cities, qualitative content analysis identified recurring patterns arising from environmental and temporal conditions, infrastructural shortcomings, inadequate maintenance, information gaps, and social interactions within specific mobility situations and across trip chains. The findings show that discomfort is cumulative and context-dependent rather than singular or isolated. It emerged through interacting environmental, infrastructural, temporal, and social conditions across individual mobility situations and trip chains. Participants responded through behavioural adaptations and mobility restrictions, including changes in routes and travel times, reliance on familiar environments or assistance, and avoidance of particular destinations or entire trips. Although these responses enabled some journeys to continue, they also constrained independent decision-making, reduced flexibility and access to destinations, and limited participation in everyday, social, and public life. Discomfort therefore shaped not only whether people travelled, but also where, when, and how they could be mobile, reinforcing experiences of exclusion and marginalisation.