Reducing car dependence: benefits, strategies, unintended consequences, and future directions of post-car urban transitions

This paper presents the state of the art of post-car urban transitions. It begins with an overview of the impact of automobility on planetary and human well-being. The benefits of post-car cities are organized into four categories: environmental, health, social equity, and livability. A hierarchy of seven strategies for reducing car dependence is presented: raising public awareness, compact city policies, public transport investment, infrastructure for active mobility, interventions restricting car use, shared mobility, and virtual mobility. The paper proposes a new conceptual model and synthesizes policies from Western European cities addressing the unintended consequences of interventions restricting cars.