Mobility and Territorial Belonging

Much existing research assumes that there is an opposition between mobility and territorial belonging, so that mobile persons tend to have a weak sense of belonging whereas persons with a strong sense of belonging are less willing than others to move. Some studies, however, suggest that mobility may coexist with or even reinforce territorial belonging. This article uses Swedish survey data to introduce two important qualifications to this discussion. First, it shows that different kinds of mobility—daily commuting, long-distance travel, residential mobility, and international migration—are differently related to people's sense of belonging. Second, by examining local, regional, national, and European belonging, it shows that the relationship between mobility and belonging is to some extent a matter of territorial scale.