01
Singapore
10 years
A licence to own
A Certificate of Entitlement lasts ten years. It can cost more than the car.
Highway interchange, American Southwest
Field study · 01
Field study · 01
CULTURE · MOBILITY · CHOICE
DRIVING CULTURES
How driving practices and car ownership vary around the world — and why public transport is a real alternative.
Driving Cultures
01 / 06
The same machine, three different ideas.
In the United States the car promises freedom and space. In Japan it is small, precise — and parked only with proof. In the Netherlands it is often the second choice, because the bicycle wins.
1.59
billion motor vehicles in use worldwide
OICA · 2020
OICA · 2020
A car is technology. How a country uses it is culture.
02 / 06
THREE COUNTRIES, THREE LEVERS
When policy has teeth.
The same goal — fewer cars, better streets — reached three very different ways.
02
Tokyo, Japan
1 space
Proof of parking
You must show a parking space before you can register a car. Kei cars are taxed less.
03
Amsterdam, Netherlands
36%
Build the alternative
515 km of cycle paths. 36% of all trips are by bike, not by car.
Policy is culture with a budget
04 / 06
WHEN THE TRAIN IS THE NORMAL
Public transport is the default.
40M
rail journeys every day in Greater Tokyo. Rail carries 48% of trips in the centre.
11.5M
public transport journeys every day in Hong Kong. The MTR carries 5 million.
Tokyo: 40M rail journeys/day · Hong Kong: 11.5M public transport journeys/day
05 / 06
Driving is a mirror.
It reflects money, space, history and choices. Cultures do not only drive differently — they decide differently about streets.
Thank you.
Sources
OICA, Vehicles in Use 2020
Hong Kong Transport Department, 2023
Tokyo Metropolitan Government / LKY World City Prize
City of Amsterdam / CIVITAS
Wikipedia, left- and right-hand traffic
Photography: Pexels contributors
Wikimedia Commons: Jorge Royan (CC BY-SA 3.0) · MaedaAkihiko (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Jnzl (CC BY 2.0) · ZEWIA dumlwp (CC0)
06 / 06