Reducing car uses in city: A comparison of media debates on reducing speed to 30 km/h in Paris and Montreal

Abstract

This article focuses on the media debates on imposing 30 km/h speed limits in Paris and Montreal as a measure to reduce the place of the car in the city. In order to understand the content of the speeches and the representations conveyed by the different actors, the paper is based on an analysis of the press based on a corpus of 184 articles published between 2013 and 2018. The results show that the more the objectives to reduce the place of the car are strong, the more the press treats the subject of the 30 km/h in a continuous, thorough and nuanced way. The more mature the automotive system is, the more the press mobilizes arguments that respond to all the nuisances of the automobile. The press converts and conveys a change of mentality towards car use.