The Role of Phone Apps : Elderly's ability to access and use transport options using phone apps in Linköping

Sammanfattning

In this master thesis, the role of smartphone apps in Linköping, and people’s ability to move around there and about, by the help of the mobile apps, will be investigated in detail. The apps aim at helping people be more mobile while all transport alternatives are aimed at being accessible and distributed fairly. The transport options at focus are car, bus and train. The theoretical framework of the thesis is mobility justice and innovation resistance theory. Both help in explaining the background with mobility and how it connects to different aspects of urban planning and human behaviour. Also, explanations as to why people have the experiences and opinions that they do regarding innovation and digitalisation. This while the method used is qualitative semi-structured interviews with elderly people above the age of 60, and respondents who are within the numerous traffic organizations are the ones being interviewed. The respondents who are not elderly are from Linköping municipality, Dukaten parkering, Östgötatrafiken and Mälardalstrafik. Also, in the thesis it is analysed what the consequences with the apps are for the society of Linköping. Both positive and negative aspects are listed, and each section of the thesis take us closer to the thesis aim and answering all the research questions. One of the last sections of the thesis describes future outlooks in detail. This is meant to work as inspiration for upcoming research in this field and making sure that the field of urban planning continues to be relevant for the foreseeable future.