Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
About this Event
Join Doug Gordon and Sarah Goodyear, co-authors, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile and co-hosts, The War on Cars podcast, in conversation with Professor Arthur Kay, UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, advisor, Board Member, Transport for London, and co-author with Henrietta Moore of Roadkill: Unveiling the Trust Cost of our Toxic Relationship with Cars (Wiley, 2025).
When cars first rolled off production lines, they were seen as an unalloyed good and the future of transportation. A hundred years later, that dream is running on empty. The proliferation of automobiles and car infrastructure has destroyed nature, killed and injured millions and isolated us from our fellow humans. In their book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile (Thesis, 2025), authors Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon explain how we can fight back.
Through historical records, revealing interviews and unflinching statistics, Life After Cars unpacks the scale of damage that cars cause, the forces that have created our current crisis and are invested in perpetuating it, and the way that the struggle for better transportation is deeply linked to the fight for a more equitable and just society.
Cars as we know them today are unsustainable—but there is hope. Life After Cars arms readers with the tools they need to implement real, transformative change, from simply raising awareness to taking a stand at public forums.
Goodyear and Gordon will discuss:
- How the ‘love affair with automobiles’ was a marketing myth that deliberately obscured people's initial hatred of cars.
- The harmful effects of car-centric design on human happiness and safety.
- Movements like the Bike Bus and policy solutions like traffic circulation plans that can cut automobile use and result in happier, healthier communities.
Speaker bios:
Goodyear and Gordon, who live with their families in Brooklyn, came together to create their podcast, The War on Cars, in 2018 out of a sense that no one was covering the subject of cars and what they do to culture, society, and the planet in the way they felt it deserved.
Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author who has covered cities and transportation for publications such as Grist, CityLab, and Streetsblog.
Doug Gordon is a TV producer and writer who has worked for ABC, PBS, Discovery, History, Travel and National Geographic who is also a neighbourhood safe streets advocate and communications consultant.
Resource links:
Web -
Instagram -
thewaroncars
Facebook
waroncars
The talk is introduced by Lucy Bullivant Hon FRIBA, Trustee, Temple Bar Trust.
Please note: Temple Bar will be open for ticket holders from 18:05, please arrive in good time to be checked in and seated by 18:20. Our public talks start at promptly at 18:30.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 6.13 to GBP 20.00
