After the Car / Edition 1

by Kingsley Dennis, John Urry

Overview

It is difficult to imagine a world without the car, and yet that is exactly what Dennis and Urry set out to do in this provocative new book. They argue that the days of the car are numbered: powerful forces around the world are undermining the car system and will usher in a new transport system sometime in the next few decades. Specifically, the book examines how several major processes are shaping the future of how we travel, including:

• Global warming and its many global consequences
• Peaking of oil supplies
• Increased digitisation of many aspects of economic and social life
• Massive global population increases

The authors look at changes in technology, policy, economy and society, and make a convincing argument for a future where, by necessity, the present car system will be re-designed and re-engineered.

Yet the book also suggests that there are some hugely bleak dilemmas facing the twenty first century. The authors lay out what they consider to be possible 'post-car' future scenarios. These they describe as 'local sustainability', 'regional warlordism' and 'digital networks of control'.

After The Car will be of great interest to planners, policy makers, social scientists, futurologists, those working in industry, as well as general readers.

Some have described the 20th Century as the century of the car. Now that century has come to a close – and things are about to change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745644219
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	06/22/2009
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kingsley Dennis, Research Associate, Lancaster University.

John Urry, Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University.

Table of Contents

Preface vi

1 Changing Climates 1

2 The Century of the Car 27

3 Systems 47

4 Technologies 62

5 Organizations 93

6 Models 109

7 Scenarios 131

Notes 165

Index 203

Editorial Reviews

"Dennis and Urry show us how to do social science: howto move effortlessly between the macro and the micro,how tointegrate problem spaces we once thought incommensurate, how tounderstand how we got to where we are and where we might begoing." Journal of Sociology

"Dennis and Urry exhibit a refreshing understanding of the sheerinefficiency and inconvenience of cars."
Lynsey Hanley, The Guardian

"One great aspect of this book is that it manages to build somepossible and realistic view of the future without neglecting itsunpredictability. After the Car is a very inspiring bookthat we would recommend to all people interested in the future oftransportation systems – especially those convinced by theimportance of carfree perspectives in building it."
Carbusters

"One of the toughest things to do is to anticipatediscontinuity, to envisage a world - a life - beyond the car. Theauthors practice this art of the impossible in a fascinating way,opening up the social and sociological imagination for alternativepaths of modernization."
Ulrich Beck, University of Munich

"A persuasive and readable summary of why motoring as we know itis doomed. The authors systematically chart the new technologies,oil shortages, environmental and other pressures changing the waywe travel and the world we live in. If you want to know what thefuture might look like, this book is for you. Jeremy Clarkson is anendangered species!"
Steven Joseph, Executive Director, Campaign for BetterTransport

"After the Car is a useful contribution to the debate about therole of the car which poses some interesting questions about itsfuture."
Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth

From the Publisher