Driving through car geographies

Abstract

This article analysis the ways in which, mostly in western societies, the development of mobility, and especially the development of automobility has been and is, one of the major elements of the transformation of cities and urban areas, and has influenced not only physical forms but also people’s social and cultural interaction with places. People’s appropriation of the car has resulted in very diverse and rich ways of experiencing space, and this article calls for a more creative Geography of automobility. Examples are drawn from several European countries and North America, while there is an attempt to focus in more detail, whenever possible, on Portugal.