This is a conversation with Giulio Mattioli and Julia Steinberger about their article ‘the political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach‘ published in the ‘Energy Research & Social Science‘ journal. We also discussed the topics below.
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Topics Discussed:
The five key elements of what we’re calling the ‘car-dependent transport system’: i) the automotive industry; ii) the provision of car infrastructure; iii) the political economy of urban sprawl; iv) the provision of public transport; v) cultures of car consumption
The problem with focusing too much on consumption and the importance of covering the production side
How where we live can influence our politics, and how suburban car-oriented lifestyles are actually subsidized by the state
The importance of network planning
Looking for decoupling and finding degrowth instead
The problem with ‘sustainable’ growth
How the car industry shows the necessity of degrowth
Why more equitable societies are easier to decarbonize
The problem with the argument that personal choices do not matter
Dealing with climate anxiety through activism, work, research, learning
How come we knew so much and did so little?
Working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
What is ecologial economics?
Recommended Books
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World by Jason Hickel
Degrowth / Postwachstum zur Einführung by Matthias Schmelzer and Andrea Vetter
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth
Music by Tarabeat.
Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
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