Reducing dependence on automobiles

Reducing reliliance on internal comustion engines

Context

The internal combustion engine provides the power train for much of our current stock of personal transport. It influences automobile production and design; the broader system of transport and transport infrastructure; the design of houses and the layout of towns and cities, including the location and design of retailing; the movement and sale of oil products; the nature of leisure activities and lifestyles; and many other aspects of contemporary life.

Claim

Attempting to reduce our dependence on the automobile encounters social and institutional rigidities and technological lock-ins. These include the capital stranded in transport infrastructure, the redundancy of knowledge that provides the basis for competence across the whole array of automobile/transport/urban designers, suppliers and users and the altered economic position and power of actors.