That picture of obese women is disgusting! Jess that a good point- will our door width change? I personally think that they won’t, maybe obese people will have houses tailored to their needs. I also think there will be an increase in the types of technology allowing them to travel more easily.
The Government are trying to decrease the amount of obesity by changing advertising and try to imply the consequence, but I don’t think its having a massive effect.
On another topic, I’ve been reading a few books and found some really interesting points. In ‘Mobilities’, John Urry compares the virtual and physical world, looking at them as two sides of the same coin.
The physical world is owned by no- one, and as the population of people increases within that area, their individual responsibility for it decreases. Urry says the more the population there is in the area, and the more diverse the people in the area, the more informal we tend to act within it; our behaviour changes as we feel more safe (e.g. a crowded train). Also the more we travel on the same type of transport/ take the same route, we become less formal to it. I can say this is true for me, as I’ve become very informal on trains after travelling on them for many years.
Urry mentions that mobile systems within a city are organised around processes that circulate people (e.g. structured roads, route ways, and cycle/rail tracks). The wealthy countries are likely to have more organised circulation within their cities (e.g. Singapore), than Third World Countries (e.g. Africa).
The reason we travel is due to a desire to gain something, our emotions ultimately motivate us to travel (e.g. seeing a loved one in another country). Therefore I think that we will always have some sort of physical mobility.
He compares this to the virtual which is much more informal as this is usually done individually and (usually) in place of comfort (home), and as Floraine mentioned, we feel safe from danger. We delve into a bubble world away from the physical and into a comfortable zone we create for ourselves. It can be seen as a non- place, but also a shared space, and is not owned by anyone. It can be seen as a tool to communicate, a place used for its convenience. If you look at the mobile phone, it has allowed us all types of communication (i.e. phone, email, sms) all in the palm of our hand. It is a revolutionary tool that has changed how society behaves. Adverts selling ringtones, software downloaded via text and many more functions are used, as this allows convenience to both seller and user.
If you think about our city is one complex network of bus/ train/ street routes interconnecting and overlapping, linking us all to each other horizontally (maybe vertically I future?).