Car Dependency in Urban Accessibility
2026/04/01 by Bruno Campanelli, Francesco Marzolla, Matteo Bruno +2 · 10 voices
#physics.soc-ph #cs.CY #physics.data-an #stat.AP
paper · pdf
Abstract
To achieve net-zero emissions, cities must transition away from reliance on private vehicles. However, car-centric urban growth has transformed the automobile from a convenience tool into a necessity for accessing essential services, creating significant "car dependency". This study introduces a novel Car Dependency Index (CDI) that quantifies the accessibility gap between private and public transport across 18 cities in Europe and North America. Utilising high-resolution geospatial data and numerical simulations, we reveal pronounced spatial inequalities, showing that car dependency remains a primary driver of car ownership even when accounting for income. A ``what-if" simulation of the planned metro expansion in Rome predicts a reduction of approximately 60,000 commuting vehicles, yet highlights that isolated interventions have localised impacts. We conclude that systemic, network-level transit expansions are essential to dismantle car-based systems and foster equitable, sustainable urban mobility. Our framework provides policymakers with an objective, scalable tool to identify viable areas for car-free zones and target infrastructure investments effectively.
Citations
Discussions
- Very interesting new study finding that *even in large European cities*, in most places it is easier to access opportunities by car than by public transport arxiv.org/pdf/2604.01019 The exceptions are [bsky, 99 points, 6 comments]
- Obsessed with these maps of car dependency in various cities. Paris is a little misleading as the city limits (shown) is only part of the larger urban area — but within those city limits, which is "Pa [bsky, 21 points, 2 comments]
- arxiv.org/pdf/2604.01019 [bsky, 6 points, 0 comments]
- “Car Dependency Index” for 18 cities across mainland Europe and North America, comparing how many amenities you can reach by car versus public transport in each city. In 16 of the 18, the car wins – a [bsky, 4 points, 0 comments]
- Car Dependency in Urban Accessibility [hn, 2 points, 0 comments]
- This paper does a great job of illustrating car dependency in select European cities. Paris stands out! But zoom out a bit to the metro region and there’s work to do. Still, the core is evidence of wh [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- Car Dependency in Urban Accessibility [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- [2604.01019] Car Dependency in Urban Accessibility — Useful arXiv paper on how urban accessibility metrics can bake in car dependence, and what that means for planning decisions. Worth a read if you’r [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Perhaps you're right, and even after we maxx out transit capacity, we'll still need to ration trips. But let's at least run the experiment first. Even most European cities are more accessible by car t [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Car Dependency in Urban Accessibility https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01019 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
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