ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals nuances of secessionist automobility, in which the automobile enables with an anti-urban ethos to move to Atlanta's outer suburban areas or navigate the city without having to interact with others. It focuses on the complicated outcome of a local coalition to produce alternative transportation to the automobile, and analysis of media discourses, participant observation, and interviews with stakeholders, during heated debates about public transit. The chapter explores how automobility reflects a complex expression of values that are then manifested in local political conflicts shaping urban spaces and social relations. It offers such a case study by examining the politics of automobility in Atlanta, Georgia, a post-industrial, information-oriented city with strong ties to the global corporate system. When the federal government in 1999 targeted Atlanta as one of the worst air polluters in the US, as a punitive measure it suspended allocations which made up 80 percent of funding for most major road projects in Atlanta the city.
