Car dependency
Car dependency is a pattern in urban planning that occurs when infrastructure favors automobiles over other modes of transport, such as public transport, bicycles, and walking. Car dependency is associated with higher transport pollution than transport systems that treat all transportation modes equally.
Car infrastructure is often paid for by governments from general taxes rather than gasoline taxes or mandated by governments. For instance, many cities have minimum parking requirements for new housing, which in practice requires developers to "subsidize" drivers. In some places, bicycles and rickshaws are banned from using road space, and pedestrian use of road space has been criminalized in many jurisdictions since the early 20th century. The road lobby plays an important role in maintaining car dependency, arguing that car infrastructure is good for economic growth.
Description
In many modern cities, automobiles are convenient and sometimes necessary to move easily. When it comes to automobile use, there is a spiraling effect where traffic congestion produces the 'demand' for more and bigger roads and the removal of 'impediments' to traffic flow. Examples of such impediments can for instance be pedestrians, cyclists, signalized crossings, traffic lights, various forms of street-based public transit such as buses and trams, or even houses, parks and recreational arenas.These measures make automobile use more advantageous at the expense of other modes of transport, inducing greater traffic volumes. Additionally, the urban design of cities adjusts to the needs of automobiles in terms of movement and space. Buildings are replaced by parking lots. Open-air shopping streets are replaced by enclosed shopping malls. Walk-in banks and fast-food stores are replaced by drive-in versions of themselves that are inconveniently located for pedestrians. Town centers with a mixture of commercial, retail, and entertainment functions are replaced by single-function business parks, 'category-killer' retail boxes, and 'multiplex' entertainment complexes, each surrounded by large tracts of parking.
These kinds of environments require automobiles to access them, thus inducing even more traffic onto the increased road space. This results in congestion, and the cycle above continues. Roads get ever bigger, consuming ever greater tracts of land previously used for housing, manufacturing, and other socially and economically useful purposes. Public transit becomes less viable and socially stigmatized, eventually becoming a minority form of transportation. People's choices and freedoms to live functional lives without the use of the car are greatly reduced. Such cities are automobile-dependent.
Automobile dependency is seen primarily as an issue of environmental sustainability due to the consumption of non-renewable resources and the production of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. It is also an issue of social and cultural sustainability. Like gated communities, the private automobile produces physical separation between people and reduces the opportunities for unstructured social encounters that is a significant aspect of social capital formation and maintenance in urban environments.
Origins
As automobile use rose drastically in the 1910s, American road administrators favored building roads to accommodate traffic. Administrators and engineers in the interwar period spent their resources making small adjustments to accommodate traffic such as widening lanes and adding parking spaces, as opposed to larger projects that would change the built environment altogether. American cities began to tear out tram systems in the 1920s.Leading into the 1940s, American society started to perceive the automobile in terms of necessity, rather than luxury. The automobile effectively filled basic transportation needs, so more and more families bought a car. By the dawn of the 1940s, America had fully embraced the automobile, with 88% of US households owning a car by 1941.
Car dependency formed around the Second World War, when urban infrastructure began to be built exclusively around the car. The resultant economic and built environment restructuring allowed wide adoption of automobile use. In the United States, the expansive manufacturing infrastructure, increase in consumerism, and the establishment of the Interstate Highway System set forth the conditions for car dependence in communities. In 1956, the Highway Trust Fund was established in America, reinvesting gasoline taxes back into car-based infrastructure.
Urban design factors
Land-use (zoning)
In 1916 the first zoning ordinance was introduced in New York City, the 1916 Zoning Resolution. Zoning was created as a means of organizing specific land uses in a city so as to avoid potentially harmful adjacencies like heavy manufacturing and residential districts, which were common in large urban areas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Zoning code also determines the permitted residential building types and densities in specific areas of a city by defining some areas as single-family zoning, and other areas where multi-family residential is allowed. The overall effect of zoning in the last century has been to create areas of the city with similar land use patterns in cities that had previously been a mix of heterogenous residential and business uses. The problem is particularly severe right outside of cities, in suburban areas located around the periphery of a city where strict zoning codes do not allow any residential types other than single family detached housing. Strict zoning codes that result in a heavily segregated built environment between residential and commercial land uses contribute to car dependency by making it nearly impossible to access all one's given needs, such as housing, work, school and recreation without the use of a car. One key solution to the spatial problems caused by zoning would be a robust public transportation network. There is also currently a movement to amend older zoning ordinances to create more mixed-use zones in cities that combine residential and commercial land uses within the same building or within walking distance to create the so-called 15-minute city.Parking minimums are also a part of modern zoning codes, and contribute to car dependency through a process known as induced demand. Parking minimums require a certain number of parking spots based on the land use of a building and are often designed in zoning codes to represent the maximum possible need at any given time. This has resulted in cities having nearly eight parking spaces for every car in America, which have created cities almost fully dedicated to parking from free on-street parking to parking lots up to three times the size of the businesses they serve. This prevalence in parking has perpetuated a loss in competition between other forms of transportation such that driving becomes the de facto choice for many people even when alternatives do exist.
Street design
The design of city roads can contribute significantly to the perceived and actual need to use a car over other modes of transportation in daily life. In the urban context car dependence is induced in greater numbers by design factors that operate in opposite directions - first, design that makes driving easier and second, design that makes all other forms of transportation more difficult. Frequently these two forces overlap in a compounding effect to induce more car dependence in an area that would have potential for a more heterogenous mix of transportation options. These factors include things like the width of roads, that make driving faster and therefore 'easier' while also making a less safe environment for pedestrians or cyclists that share the same road. The prevalence of on-street parking on most residential and commercial streets also makes driving easier while taking away street space that could be used for protected bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes, or other forms of public transportation.Sociocultural factors
factors are greatly influential in the emergence and perpetuation of car dependency. These include the rise of car culture, consumer preferences, and the symbolic meanings associated with automobiles.Symbolism
Cars emerged in the 20th century as symbols of modernity, progress, and freedom. They were preceded by the proliferation of railways, which triggered a shift in the previously constrained travel patterns of the population. This change was accelerated by the development of the automobile and the economic incentives that travel introduced. In the United States, for instance, registered vehicles increased from 8,000 in 1900 to more than 20 million in 1927. The growing popularity of individual vehicles prompted the development of new car-focused infrastructure, which in turn fueled the adoption of cars as the default means of transportation.The automobile as a symbol of freedom was reflected in automotive advertisements during the 1940s. During the early 1940s, the emotional climate of World War II imbued auto advertisements with themes of patriotism and optimism. Even when vehicle sales were frozen in 1942 and manufacturers retooled automotive production into war production, automakers continued to advertise their brand names. In fact, automobile companies started flooding magazines with advertisements to keep their names in the public eye, as well as directly associate their brand with the war effort and freedom.
After the war, advertising themes shifted to fantasy and escapism. Print advertisements for postwar cars were filled with automakers' faith in technocracy and consumerism. Marketers promoted the automobile's functional benefits as well as its symbolism of progress and modernity.
The symbolic functions of cars extend beyond the sense of freedom. The automobile has traditionally signified masculinity, but it has also been associated with women's liberation. Economic status is often displayed through the possession and use of high-end personal vehicles, which are considered objects of conspicuous consumption. A 2024 study conducted in Brazil found that vehicle ownership increases subjects' "mating value" and social dominance. This relationship held true for both men and women, and is amplified when the vehicle owned is perceived as luxurious. These symbolic functions encourage the possession of personal vehicles and therefore contribute to car dependency.