That Car-Free Dream

Most Americans are open to being less dependent on the automobile

They drive him here; they drive him there; those parents drive him everywhere.

What if they didn’t have to? What if they don’t want to?

In another piece, awhile ago, I shared this little graphic I’ve seen on social media:

This makes a really important point: the mere wide use of the automobile cannot be taken as an expression of an affirmative preference. It may be a sort of anti-preference—we drive because we’d prefer to walk but there’s too much traffic—a grudging acceptance, or a lack of a sense that it could be different.

I’m not leaving out that some people simply prefer driving, but not everybody in a car wants to be in there, doing their errand that way. And that’s the important point, and the potential audience for urbanism/walkability/etc.

Now I want to show you something else I saw that is pretty incredible:

Almost one in five car owners are open to the idea of living without a car, even some suburban car owners. Look, it’s not like that’s a secret urbanist majority, but that is a lot of people. Those are not niche, weird, politically irrelevant lifestyle preference numbers.

And those are the people who can imagine enough what car-free living might be that they say yes on a survey. I’m willing to bet that quite a few more would say yes if they had a mental picture of what it could be. I think we urbanists have to remember that a lot of people have never heard a case for any of the things we want—and therefore really can’t be said to have rejected it, even if they answer “no” in a poll.

There are people who would find they enjoy many aspects of urban living, but don’t have a relatable image for it or reference point for it. And there are many people who merely mistake liking what they know for knowing what they like. What people need is a real example and alternative, or their preference is untested. It may hold up, but it should be tested.

To me, this is very hopeful. It means there is a very large untapped audience for what we care about. It also means that talking about suburbs or suburbanites as a blob, as a “they,” or as an antagonist, is not helpful and not even accurate.

Here’s a fuller article about the survey, which includes this important bit:

We should not be making demographic or political assumptions about who potential non-drivers are. They are everyone, rich and poor, old and young, and of various races and political opinions.

Here’s the link to the study.

Anecdotally, I do think this is correct: that there’s a much larger audience for urbanism broadly than a lot of us think. What do you think? How does your experience tilt in terms of confirming this or making you skeptical of it?

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Related Reading:

Have You Ever Seen A City?

That Damned Elusive Parking Spot

Cities Aren’t Loud, Cars Are Loud

Urbanism And Gratitude

Don’t Patch The Hole In The Wall

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