The replication and reduction of automobility: Findings from Aotearoa New Zealand

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.09.005

Journal of Transport Geography

Volume 56, October 2016, Pages 92-101

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.09.005 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We empirically examine the factors that replicate or reduce automobility.
•
We find evidence of an emergent mobility culture of reduced car dependence.
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New conceptualisations of independence and freedom contribute to this culture.

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the factors that contribute to the replication or reduction of automobility amongst young adults. Semi-structured interviews conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand, with 51 drivers and non-drivers, aged 18–35 years old, form the empirical material. The findings build upon previous research and extend understandings of how seven explanatory factors; perceptual, value and preference, social, built environment, economic, legal/policy and technological, work both to continue the current automobility paradigm, and to challenge it by adopting alternative mobilities. We use the Energy Cultures Framework as an analytical tool to explore the ways through which materialites, norms, practices, and external context can replicate or reduce participation in the hegemonic mobility paradigm. This approach offers useful insights into the interactions between what the research participants think, have and do, and how this is resulting in a reduction in automobility norms amongst some younger people. It also identifies and highlights potential opportunities to leverage upon current change trends to assist a systemic transition away from automobility towards a culture of multi-mobilities.

Introduction

Automobility is the hegemonic mobility paradigm. Since the introduction of the Ford Model T, bringing affordable private vehicles to the industrialised world, the car has represented freedom, independence and prestige (Steg, 2005, Mokhtarian et al., 2015). We now live in a world designed to accommodate, and even prioritise, private vehicle ownership and untrammelled car-based access between and within places. The system of automobility characterises a perpetual routine of car-dependence, which continues throughout generations. However, the ‘Peak Car’ phenomenon (Goodwin, 2012, Goodwin and Van Dender, 2013, Metz, 2013, Newman and Kenworthy, 2011) has reported a destabilisation in car-based travel in some industrialised countries, and this has raised questions around the underlying causes and long-term consequences of decreased car-dependence (Dennis and Urry, 2009).

Within this phenomenon is another trend that has drawn the attention of academic and policy audiences internationally; the proposition, and evidence, that young people in some industrialised countries may be developing different mobility-related aspirations and expectations than other generations (Delbosc and Currie, 2013, Institute for Mobility Research, 2013a, Kuhnimhof et al., 2011). This research has indicated a reduction in automobility norms that have previously been replicated from generation to generation, but why this is occurring is less clear. Given the rapidly changing socio-economic, cultural and technological landscape in which mobility decisions are now made, the factors that replicate or reduce automobility require examination.

In this paper, we empirically examine the factors that contribute to the replication or reduction of automobility through a qualitative study of young adults in Aotearoa New Zealand (Generation Y or ‘millennial generation’, 18–35 year olds). In doing so, we respond to 3 research questions: (1) What are the factors that contribute to the replication or reduction of automobility? (2) What are the mobility cultures of replication and reduction? and (3) How might the concept of Energy Cultures help frame these factors so as to identify ways to promote a cultural shift away from automobility?

Section snippets

Literature review

While changing travel practices have many implications, particularly in regards to infrastructure provision and geographies of mobility, these changes are critically important in light of the contribution private road-based transport makes on a global and national scale to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most transport GHG emissions are from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, with 80% of total global motorised passenger kilometres arising from 10% of the

Methods

A qualitative research approach was adopted to elicit in-depth, detailed perspectives on automobility. Interpretivist, qualitative studies are particularly valuable for uncovering the lived experience of the research participants (Røe, 2000), and for understanding the complex nature of travel and travel behaviour (Clifton and Handy, 2001, Handy, 2002). The empirical research involved semi-structured interviews with 18–35 year olds. The participants were not sought to be representative of either

Factors that replicate automobility norms

Using the process of analysis described above, we empirically developed and extended the modified replication and reduction table (Hopkins and Stephenson, 2014, Table 1), and present a revised table based on evidence from the interviews (Table 4).

In relation to automobility replication, we found that many of the interview participants expressed traditional conceptualisations of independence, freedom and autonomy associated with car use and learning to drive. Freedom to travel without scheduling

Factors that reduce automobility norms

From the interviews we also found evidence of factors contributing to the reduction of automobility norms. Freedom, flexibility and autonomy are traditionally associated with automobility, but in this research, some interviewees used these concepts to explain their (active or passive) non-participation in the car-dominated transport system. Independence, interviewees stated, can be gained without a private vehicle as long as the public transport network is regular and efficient. Thus for

Discussion: the mobility cultures of replication and reduction

The research reported in this paper used a qualitative approach to explore the range of factors that contribute to the replication or reduction of automobility. The sample consisted of young adults (18–35 year olds) from Aotearoa New Zealand, and included self-identified drivers (e.g. with a driver's licence) and non-drivers (e.g. without a driver's licence, or with a licence but not driving). Using the findings from the generation Y interviews, we revisited the findings from the literature

Conclusion & implications

Climate change mitigation responses demand drastic reductions in the CO₂ and other GHGs emitted into the atmosphere. Private transport represents a significant proportion of these emissions, and in some cases, there are clear low-carbon alternatives available (e.g. active and public transport). The system of automobility has locked-in car dependency in many industrialised countries, and increasingly in emerging economies. However, the research presented in this paper provides evidence of a

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted while Debbie Hopkins was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago (New Zealand) working on the Energy Cultures II Project, MBIE grant: PROP-42734-EMTR-UOO. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.

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View full text

The replication and reduction of automobility: Findings from Aotearoa New Zealand

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Literature review

Methods

Factors that replicate automobility norms

Factors that reduce automobility norms

Discussion: the mobility cultures of replication and reduction

Conclusion & implications

Acknowledgments

Transp. Policy

Transp. Res. A

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

Curr. Opin. Psychol.

J. Transp. Geogr.

J. Transp. Geogr.

J. Transp. Geogr.

J. Transp. Geogr.

Transp. Policy

J. Transp. Geogr.

J. Transp. Geogr.

J. Transp. Geogr.

Transp. Res. A Policy Pract.

Energ. Policy

Energy Res. Soc. Sci.

Manual or electronic? The role of coding in qualitative data analysis

Educ. Res.

Transport, Mobility and the Production of Urban Space

Qualitative methods in travel behaviour research

Diffusion of energy-conserving innovations

J. Soc. Issues

Causes of youth licensing decline: a synthesis of evidence

Transp. Rev.

After the Car