The Diverging Action-Space: Evolving Rhythms and Changing Habits in Daily Mobility

The Diverging Action-Space: Evolving Rhythms and Changing Habits in Daily Mobility | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Diverging Action-Space: Evolving Rhythms and Changing Habits in Daily Mobility Jeppe Rich This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8221367/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract How much has daily mobility changed in an era of digitization, remote work, and a global pandemic? Using 17 years of Danish travel data (>140,000 individuals), we analyze daily action-spaces—the distance from home over time—across five age cohorts. We identify a two-regime structure. The conditional action-space envelope describing where people go when they travel shows systematic spatial expansion: younger cohorts (10–30 years) exhibit the strongest increases (+8–14%), but working-age adults and seniors also travel farther when away from home. Temporal rhythms within this envelope remain remarkably stable. In contrast, the unconditional propensity to leave home has declined sharply for those under 55: younger cohorts spend substantially more time at home despite their spatial expansion, while adults aged 31–55 show similar but weaker temporal contraction. Pre-retirement and older adults (55 years and older) exhibit near-zero temporal drift. This age-stratified divergence—widespread spatial expansion coupled with life-stage-dependent temporal contraction—suggests the emergence of cohort-specific behavior and raises the possibility of a "stay-home generation," challenging standard assumptions in mobility forecasting and urban planning. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Decision making Scientific community and society/Geography Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files NatCommActionSpaceSUPPRich2025.pdf The Diverging Action-Space: Evolving Rhythms and Changing Habits in Daily Mobility Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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