Physical and virtual mobilities’ role in shaping socioeconomic and wellbeing outcomes: development of configurational analysis to reveal meso-level causal dynamics

This thesis examines how the co-evolution of physical (transport) and digital mobilities shapes inequality and wellbeing in rapidly urbanising, digitalising cities. As urban populations navigate increasingly complex mobility systems, understanding these dynamics becomes critical for equitable urban futures. The study addresses three questions: (1) What causal pathways link evolving infrastructure-individual relationships to poverty risks and quality of life? (2) How do transport and digital mobilities interact to produce these outcomes? (3) How do social ties mediate these effects across different age groups? The research makes three key contributions. Theoretically, it bridges micro-meso analytical gaps by showing how socio-technical regime evolution shapes individual outcomes through mobility assemblages. Methodologically, it advances configurational analysis through fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), developing a novel two-step approach that connects individual mobility patterns to regime-level conditions. This includes introducing a configurational propinquity index with accompanying visualisation software. Empirically, it provides original evidence from Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen (n=739, surveyed July-September 2022), revealing how transport-digital mobility interactions create differentiated pathways to risks of poverty and wellbeing outcomes. The analysis identifies ``remote'' configurations (urban context, life-course stage, education, infrastructure trajectories, socio-economic capital, infrastructure perceptions) and ``proximate'' configurations (physical/digital mobility skills, access, and choices). Quality of life outcomes were measured using EQ-5D-5L with Chinese value sets. Findings show multiple, non-linear, city- and population-specific pathways to risks of poverty: no single demographic is universally excluded; instead, configurations combine age/education with infrastructure trends, perceptions of infrastructure and socio-economic/social capital, interacting with mobility skills. Dynamics include demand–practice competition, reinforcement of avoidance, scale-related inequalities, and context-critical skills. Younger populations achieve good quality of life through flexible multi-modal strategies that avoid platform lock-ins, whilst older populations achieve it through diverse combinations of sustained physical mobility and contextually-appropriate digital engagement. Moreover, across generations, social ties consistently support good QoL; notably, city membership was unnecessary in the configurations linking social ties to QoL, suggesting generalisable 'social' pathways across the three cities. Policy implications emphasise integrated mobility planning that recognises transport-digital interdependencies, platform design that prevents lock-ins whilst ensuring accessibility across age groups, and interventions that mobilise social capital as a protective factor. The configurational approach reveals that effective policy must move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions to address the complex, non-linear relationships between mobilities and wellbeing. While focused on three Chinese cities using a combination of individual-level data and urban-level data, this thesis establishes a framework for understanding mobility-inequality relationships in digitalising urban contexts globally, with particular relevance for ageing societies navigating technological transitions.