After the Car [Paperback]

Kingsley Dennis (Author), John Urry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0745644228 | ISBN-13: 978-0745644226 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

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

"One great aspect of this book is that it manages to build some possible and realistic view of the future without neglecting its unpredictability. After the Car is a very inspiring book that we would recommend to all people interested in the future of transportation systems – especially those convinced by the importance of carfree perspectives in building it."
Carbusters

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

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

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

From the Back Cover

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.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Polity; 1 edition (July 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745644228
• ISBN-13: 978-0745644226
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,390,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3,5 stars - lots of questions, not very many answers, May 22, 2010

By 

Philippe Vandenbroeck (HEVERLEE, BELGIUM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Car (Paperback)

This short book offers a broad brush discussion of the future of the complex socio-technical system that has emerged around the automobile. The basic idea underpinning the book is that the car system is ripe for tipping into another regime because of crucial developments such as global warming, peak oil, rapid urbanization and the pervasive digitization of many aspects of economic and social life. However, the fact that it might tip does not mean that the car system will move into a very different form of mass mechanized mobility. Whilst the current regime is under pressure, it has proved to be very resilient over a period of more than a century by locking itself into a key position in the leading economic sectors and social practices of twentieth century capitalism. But the potential for change has never been greater and, if it happens, it will arguably have huge impact on our way of life.

So in trying to paint a picture of where this massive change might go, Dennis and Urry discuss a range of technological and institutional developments that might contribute to the emerging post-car regime: new propulsion mechanisms and materials, `smart' technologies, new mobility policies, alternative living and leisure practices, new ownership and usage patterns. A number of contemporary avant garde models are showcased to make the future of personal mobility more tangible. These models range from Bremen's clever transport system to the Transition Town Movement to Norman Foster's Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.

In a final chapter a set of three scenarios is offered to explore the shape of the post-car regime in a more distant future: 1) an `eco-communalist' future based on a network of downscaled, self-reliant communities under the aegis of `small is beautiful'. Mobility is severely restricted because of resource scarcity, 2) an apocalyptic future of `regional warlordism' where society fragments in violent factions resisting an autocratic elite. Mobility is restricted to the `happy few', and 3) a future in which personal mobility will be meshed with pervasive digital networks of control. The ability to move will be constrained at it will come at the cost of a significant loss of privacy.

Whilst the book offers a concise and informative traverse of a fascinating subject area, it has a number of shortcomings. Its brevity is a boon for time-constrained readers but it comes at the cost of both depth and comprehensiveness. There are important developments - such as the introduction of ultra-cheap mass-produced vehicles (Tata Nano) or the economics of personal carbon allowances - that receive very short shrift. Also, the argument is developed from a social sciences, not from an engineering perspective. The authors describe but do not critically assess the relative merits of various technological options. Furthermore, I appreciate the complex systems perspective that underpins the narrative but there is a lot of relatively recent research on the dynamics governing system-wide transitions that would allow for a more nuanced discussion. Now the argument basically boils down to the rather generic `system in a self-critical state + disruptive innovation = new mobility regime'. Finally, I was disappointed by the final scenarios chapter which connects awkwardly to the discussion that precedes it. Suddenly the security implications of global climate change move in as a dominant driver and one wonders why this hasn't been broached earlier. The scenarios are also rather stereotypical: the `catastrophe if we do nothing', the `command and control' and the `self-organization' stories have been turning up in various guises in many scenario exercises over the last 15 years. As a whole the book provides an interesting scaffolding for an imaginative and systemic reflection on the future of personal mobility but this is something that is left to the reader to complete.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, easy to read, not a rant, but a good review of problem, January 15, 2010

By 

Tom (Boulder, Prague) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: After the Car (Paperback)

I wanted information and background on what might happen to the car culture and our ways of life formed around automobile use. Happily satisfied on a subject it is hard to be happy about.

The book explains how car use is not due simply to our habits and tastes, but a matter of a complex system evolved over more than a century. I liked the explanation of how complex systems work - better than many I have read before. Most interesting are the extensive descriptions of "disruptive" innovations already being tried which have a chance of producing a more sustainable future.

The book seems accessible to people not already knowledgeable on this subject, with plenty of background on auto technology, economics, resources and urban planning. But it includes much technical information (much of it notes) as well. Highly recommended.