Different worlds of non-motoring: households without a car between compulsory immobility and lifestyle choice

Giulio Mattioli

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstract

Abstract

Households without a car are at the intersection of two contradicting concerns: first, car-free living has to be promoted in order to reduce the environmental impact of mobility. This is more likely to happen in urban areas, where transport alternatives are available. However, carless living is often the consequence of poverty and/or the cause of difficulties in accessing services, and is thus problematic from a social equity perspective. This association between the car and social inclusion is most frequent in suburban/rural areas, where car dependence is higher. Accordingly, the size and the nature of the group of households without a car is highly variable according to the spatial characteristics of the local area: in urban contexts, the group is large and complex, including also households for whom car-free living is a lifestyle choice. By contrast, where car dependence is high, households without a car are concentrated mostly among the poor and the elderly. Therefore, the internal structure of this social group can be considered as an indicator for the level of car dependence of the area. The paper explores this topic by means of a secondary analysis of the German national travel survey (MiD 2008). Using the tools of latent class analysis, it puts forward a typology of households, based on their stated reasons for not owning a car. The results show how the lack of a household car may correspond to very different situations, depending on the levels of overall mobility
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2012
EventDortmund Conference 2012 on Spatial Planning Research 2012: “Mobilities and Immobilities" - School of Spatial Planning, University of Technology Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
Duration: 9 Feb 201210 Feb 2012

Conference

ConferenceDortmund Conference 2012 on Spatial Planning Research 2012: “Mobilities and Immobilities"
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityDortmund
Period9/02/1210/02/12

Keywords

  • sustainable transport
  • transport and social exclusion
  • social exclusion
  • car
  • car ownership
  • travel behaviour
  • mobility
  • segmentation

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