8: The Use of the Car-Mobility Dependencies of Urban Everyday Life

What adaptive potentials exist in the short and medium term if mobility has to be reduced? This chapter examines how tied people’s activity patterns and the socio-spatial organization of modern society has become to high levels of mobility. It elaborates on four intertwined aspects of mobility dependence and adaptation: (i) time and time use, (ii) travel-related activities and goals, (iii) urban structure and land use, and (iv) virtual mobility alternatives. A main objective is to explore the structure of predominantly car-dependent urban activities according to their flexibility (or fixedness) in time and space.

The activity pattern of an individual essentially expresses his or her use of time for different purposes at various places. For many, this pattern is largely dependent on fast travel and is widely extended in urban space. This also implies that any change in the transportation options of an individual, for example, gaining or losing access to a car, has to be managed through changes in the distribution of time used for different activities and/or where these activities are performed (Gärling et al., 2002). In modern societies, the spread of high-speed travel increased due to incomes and hence car availability among households has resulted in an extension of the activity space of individuals and has increased the accessibility of a range of life chances as well (Orfeuil and Salomon, 1993; Pucher, 1999). Being able to travel fast has gained a stable position in the hierarchy of needs and priorities of individuals and households in most countries and cultures. Growing incomes have meant, and still mean, increasing demands for mobility, not least for car ownership and use.