Deautomobilization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of reducing or eliminating automobile use or ownership; the movement away from car dependency; the effort to decrease reliance on motor vehicles
2. The act of reversing or undoing widespread car utilization; a shift toward minimized personal vehicle presence; the strategy to lower the dominance of automobiles in transport
3. The transition from extensive automobile reliance to alternative modes of travel; dismantling the preference for car-based mobility; the reduction in the prominence and usage of motor cars

Etymology: Deautomobilization is a modern coinage built from familiar parts. The root "automobile" comes from French "automobile," itself formed from Greek "autos" ("self") and Latin "mobilis" ("movable"), a hybrid that the French began using in the 1890s to name the self-propelled vehicle. English adopted the noun in the same decade, so the base word is barely older than the car it names. The prefix "de-" is Latin in origin and means "removal" or "reversal," as in "decentralize" or "deforest." Attaching it to "automobilization," the process of making a society organized around cars, produces a word meaning the undoing of that organization. The suffix "-ation" turns the whole thing into a noun for the process. Because the word is a transparent formation rather than an inherited term, its history is essentially the history of the components. It appears in urbanist and transport-policy writing from the late twentieth century onward, when planners began debating how cities might be rebuilt around walking, cycling, and transit.

Synonyms: reduction of automobile use, car reduction, automobile phase-out

Antonyms: automobilization, increased automobile use