Hyperautomobility and Governmentality in Auckland

Abstract

A number of cities around the world are associated with very high levels of private motor car usage, and Auckland provides an example of one of these ‘hyperautomobile’ cities. There are many problems with this system of transportation and dependence on the private car, including environmental, social and city design dimensions. Though there is a clear aspiration to move towards reduced levels of car usage in the city's transport and spatial planning strategies, there are major difficulties in implementation terms. We develop and consider future scenarios to 2041 to reduce these levels of motorization, and subsequent transport CO₂ emissions, with a much greater use of public transport, walking and cycling, urban planning, and low emission vehicles. The current implementability of such a ‘sustainable mobility’ future is however questioned in the current political and social context, and critically debated in terms of the available governance mechanisms and the limited attempts to shape the behaviour of the public. We conclude by calling for a reconsideration of the policy measures being considered, including the range and levels of application and investment; with a much wider framing of the transport planning remit, and carried out within a much stronger participatory framework for decision-making.

Key words:

• Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
• transport
• governance
• Auckland
• city planning

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the anonymous reviewers who made some very useful comments and helped significantly strengthen the paper.

Notes

1. See, for example, the Economist Intelligence Unit (2013) Global Liveability Ranking Report – Auckland is ranked as number 10 in the world's most ‘liveable’ cities.

2. Though the language may today be viewed as sexist in phrasing.

3. The scenario process was developed by considering policy documentation and using discussions with a small number of academics at the University of Auckland (3) and a series of meetings and discussions with various technical officers at Auckland Council in the transport and planning teams (2 officers in particular, but also wider discussions with 10 more officers).