Join Professor Dame Henrietta L. Moore and Arthur Kay for a provocative discussion on how our dependence on cars has shaped not only our cities and infrastructure, but our economies, health, and freedoms. Based on the ideas explored in their new work, this talk will interrogate the hidden costs of car-centric development and propose bold, systems-level alternatives to rethink how we move, live, and thrive in a climate-constrained world.

For more than a century, the car has been a symbol of freedom and progress. But what if that promise has come at a cost we can no longer afford? In this Oxford Martin School event, clean tech entrepreneur Arthur Kay and global prosperity theorist Professor Dame Henrietta L. Moore explore how our relationship with the car has distorted everything from land use and energy systems to public health and economic equity. Drawing on their collaborative research, they argue that confronting car dependency isn’t just about transport, it’s about rethinking the very structure of modern life.

The authors will be joined in conversation by Professor Tim Schwanen, Director of the Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford, and Prof Sir Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School.