Communication in Transit Spaces: a Case of Commuter Trains

<p>The present research is intended to examine communication and its forms in suburban electric trains that are a striking example of transit spaces. These spaces can be described as places used by individuals to move from one significant point to another. Also, communication in this paper can be presented as any interaction between people or as interaction between individual and the environment he is located.</p><p>To achieve this goal we need to solve the problems relating with description of the main characteristics of modern cities, explaining the role of mobility in modern urban life and everyday citizens ways, identifying value of transit spaces as mobility infrastructure, identification the strategies of communication in transit spaces and development a theory that could explain the conditions of these strategies.</p><p>In this study we have applied qualitative data obtained by during observation and semi-structured interviews. Also the grounded theory has been used as a strategy of collecting and analyzing information. This tactic allows to get a formal tool for the data conceptualization and categorization connected with communication in transit spaces and explain why such communication occurs in these areas.</p><p>The empirical base of the study has been presented as a series of observations taken at different times of the day on weekends and weekdays during May, as well as 19 interviews with commuter trains passengers of the specified direction.</p><p>On the basis of empirical data and theoretical information the main features of big city life have been described. Also, it has been shown how the city and mobility are interconnected and the important role of transit spaces as infrastructure mobility has been proved. Next, due to grounded theory implementation the phenomenon of communication in transit spaces has been considered. This procedure allowed to distinguish three forms or communication in these spaces. In addition, as a result of the study a theory that explains the relationship between communication strategy and various types of conditions relating to the characteristics of transit spaces, cultural context and personal characteristics of the actor has been constructed.</p>