Alex Mckenchie | Drexel News Blog

Commercial real-estate brokers are marketing images like this one, of Tribeca. PHOTO: LEONARD STEINBERGIt’s been roughly a century since we were introduced to automobiles. But, as Americans buy fewer cars, drive less and get fewer licenses as each year goes by, it’s impossible not to wonder: has America passed its driving peak?

Between economic changes, the pressures of climate change and the Millennial generation’s preference for denser, urban living and public transportation, attitudes about the importance of automobiles in everyday life have certainly been changing.

Mobilities expert Mimi Sheller, PhD, recently returned from California, where she spoke on a public panel hosted by Zócalo/Metro at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art about the shift in car culture, moderated by Mike Floyd, editor-in-chief of Automobile Magazine. The event is recapped here. Sheller has also been interviewed in The New York Times and on NPR’s “Radio Times” about this topic. She also is the author of the recent book “Aluminum Dreams: The Making of Light modernity” (MIT Press, 2014.) Read more