Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the changes in everyday commuting patterns during the post-transition-period Estonia. By taking a phenomenological approach, the paper focuses on the social and cultural production of translocal mobility and place-making practices on the micro-level.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the changes in everyday commuting patterns in Estonia after the restoration of independence in 1991. The 1990s were a period of major political, economic, social and cultural changes throughout the Eastern Europe. The post-socialist restructuring of the economy that meant replacing a planned economy with a market economy led to job losses in industry and agriculture. Whilst in cities, lost jobs in industrial sector were replaced by new vacancies in the service sector; in rural areas, however, the loss of work exceeded the creation of new jobs.

Adaptation to the rapid economic shifts brought about, among other things, significant changes in inhabitants' daily commuting patterns. The constant growth of distance between home and workplaces became one of the emergent trends. On the one hand, the decrease of transport infrastructure outside urban areas was accompanied by the loss of population in the periphery and moving of the population to the cities and suburban areas. On the other hand, unprecedented possibilities to consumerism entailed the Europe's greatest increase in car ownership.

The paper takes the phenomenological approach and treats the social and cultural production of everyday (im)mobility and place-making practices on the micro-level. Focusing on the everyday long-distance commuting patterns of Estonian rural and suburban inhabitants, the paper analyses people's subjective attitudes towards these patterns and particularly the role of car in these processes.