Car-free not care-free–the social practices of parents without cars

Abstract

Using data from interviews with 30 car-free parents in Sydney, Australia, this paper details the way parents confront social norms by raising children without private car ownership. Social practice theory is applied to fuse the influence of transport material structures with cultural expectations and emotions in a detailed examination of how parents live without cars. The paper exposes the way cultural scripts of good parenting are re-written by car-free parents, who have developed skills to take advantage of mixed-use and transit rich urban form, yet also accept having access to less. In doing so, a series of emotions are stirred, which parents absorb, as they forge an alternative transport lifestyle through a notoriously car dependent life-stage in a car-dependent city. This story sheds light on the barriers and enablers to less car-dependent parenting in the hope of informing realistic understandings of the influence of material transport structures on sustainable transport transitions. While alternative transport infrastructure is necessary for car-free living, a series of cultural and psycho-social elements must also be factored into our aspirations for less car dependent cities.