“That's not feasible without a car”: An exploration of car-dependent practices

Abstract

In this study, we adopted a Social Practice perspective to unpack which practices are strongly connected to car driving and why that is the case. Through focus group research with car owners in the city of Ghent (Belgium), we explored how strongly practices are locked into car driving and what interventions are required to reduce the car dependence of the observed practices. We found that car-dependent practices are still abundant even in a city that offers ample opportunities for non-car modes. Our study classified the car-dependent practices into five groups: cargo, caring, maintaining social relationships, leisure and commuting. However, some practices could not be placed under a single heading, illustrating that many trips are messy and unpredictable. Consequently, a continuum of car dependence will be necessarily multidimensional and varies along different axes. Not all identified practices were considered equally car-dependent. We distinguished between (1) practices that do not depend on the practice of car driving, (2) practices that do depend on car driving but not on private car ownership, and (3) practices that require strong reorganisation or risk disintegrating without car driving. For urban residents, car dependence of practices occurs mainly at the level of occasional practices and practices outside the urban area. But also for practices inside the city, we noticed a predisposition towards car use, driven by a desire towards flexibility, autonomy and comfort. Revealing how car-dependent practices bundle and exploring the elements that constitute them is imperative for identifying potential avenues for policy interventions.