Drivers of car ownership in a car-oriented city : A mixed-method study

• Published in: Sustainability
• Main Authors: Heinonen, Jukka, Czepkiewicz, Michał, Árnadóttir, Áróra, Ottelin, Juudit
• Other Authors: Department of Built Environment, Real Estate, University of Iceland, Aalto-yliopisto, Aalto University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) 2021
• Subjects: Built environment; Car ownership; Car-oriented mobility culture; Mixed-method study; Residential self-selection; Transit-oriented development (TOD); Iceland
• Online Access: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/102357; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020619

This paper presents a mixed-method analysis of car ownership in Reykjavik, Iceland, a location with a high motorization level and deeply rooted car culture. We utilize qualitative interviews to understand vehicle possession reasons and elaborate the study with statistical analysis using a softGIS survey dataset with characteristics of the respondents and their residential location. We focus on adults aged 25 to 40, who are suggested to be less car-oriented than older generations. We also describe the historic development of Reykjavik’s car culture to give a perspective for the findings. We show that even among the studied age group, car ownership is still seen as a social norm, with few even seeing it possible to live without a car, and the public transport system is seen as giving a poverty stigma. However, we still find an increasing share of car-free households towards the city center. Still, the built environment impact is limited to the city center, which has a higher proportion of small adult-only households residing in shared apartments than other areas. Moreover, there seems to be a three-fold connection between having a child, acquiring a car (if not already possessed), and choosing a suburban residential location. Some indications of residential self-selection related to car ownership were found, but pro-car attitudes and residential location independently influenced car ownership. This study helps to understand the reasons for high car dominance and supports designing policies to reduce car-dependency, not just in Reykjavik but also elsewhere. Peer reviewed