Barnfamiljers dagliga fritidsresor i bilsamhället - ett tidspussel med geografiska och könsmässiga variationer

Sammanfattning: Although leisure trips account for the majority of travelled distances in Sweden, little is known about their composition and geographical differentiation. In this thesis, leisure trips are first studied from an environmental point of view, focusing on the relationship between residential location and car-based leisure travel lengths. Secondly, using gender and modernity theory as points of departure, the question is raised to which extent the so-called leisure trips are actually related to recreation and flexibility. Leisure trip patterns of families with children are analysed with the help of time-geographic concepts. Travel diaries and qualitative interviews are used for a study in a medium-sized Swedish city (Gävle), a small town (Ockelbo) and a rural area (Hillevik-Utvalnäs), all located in southern Gävleborg county.It is shown that while the rural inhabitants have the longest daily car-based, total as well as leisure, travel distance per person, these differences are levelled out during the week-ends. This is due to long leisure trips by the city residents to e.g. summer cottages. Chauffeuring to children´s organised leisure activities often dominates the household´s time schedule after work. A greater share of the mother´s than of the father´s leisure travel is related to chauffeuring rather than to leisure trips for ones own purpose; in this respect gender differences are least in the rural area. The rural children are engaged in urban-based activities to the same extent as the urban children, which causes the former often to spend less time in their home milieu. Moreover, the degree of adaptation, including work times, to the children´s leisure activities is even larger in the case of rural parents.