In the UK, as a non-driver, I’ve often thought that that I am in an ever-decreasing minority, but having lived without mostly cars for the last 25 years its not something I imagine changing any time soon, unless a major lifestyle change forces it on me. I live in a city – Manchester – where there’s enough congestion without me adding to it – though the high costs of public transport and lack of an integrated transport system remain a constant reminder of the limits of government deregulation in this area.
At the Picnic Festival last week in Amsterdam I attended a session by Benoit Jacob, BMW’s head of design. He asked the audience to stand up – it was in the Grand Theatre of the festival and the room was full – then asked everyone to sit down if they owned a car. Perhaps over half did so. Then he asked everyone else to sit down who didn’t own a car, but needed to use a car, and almost everyone else did. I was amazed that I was one of less than a dozen people standing. The session wasn’t talking about the car of the past though, but the car of the future, and how designing a car for the urban environment required different design features than in the future – whether its in its environmental footprint, its capacity, or how it is powered.
More of this is in a fascinating article on the Guardian website by Alex Raynor headlined “The End of Motoring.” The numbers of young people taking their driving test in the UK is in decline, and rather than just a result of the harsh economic environment, Raynor’s piece suggests that its also signalling an end to our “love affair” with the car as status symbol in an age of iPads and other consumer status symbols. Perhaps more surprisingly, the piece talks about how the amount of journeys we undertake, has stayed the same, and even gone done over the years. There are quite a few questions in the article – where the research just isn’t available – but for mature western cities, perhaps we have reached both the symbolic and actual height of car ownership; if not car use. The article highlights a number of interesting initiatives – such as dealing with parking problems by those with spare driveways allowing others to park their cars; as well as car schemes that are flexible depending on your needs – a run around for the city, a van for when you are moving house.
In the context of the smart city, and “smart mobility” – the SMARTiP pilot is taking place in the city of Bologna, in Italy – understanding our changing relationship with the car; the relationship between this and new and old methods of public transport (e.g. driverless cars); as well as how we ensure that we have the transport capacity that sustainable growth requires, seem areas that we are only just beginning to explore.
The piece ends with the following quote from David Metz, visiting professor in UCL’s Centre for Transport Studies, -: “There’s this idea of a green metropolis, where land values are high so there’s less space to heat, and where electric vehicles are viable, because the trips taken are shorter. If we’re living in a world that is urbanising globally, this is worth considering.”
Article: The End of Motoring by Alex Rayner