Using a motor vehicle as a source of transportation is part of everyday life and is not rare to the stereotypical American. But cities such as Paris, Bogota, and Vauban are all striving towards reducing the rate of motor vehicle usage in their areas. Advantages of limiting car usage are lower greenhouse gas rates, suburbs can become more compact and more accesible to public transportation, and people are able to live less stressful lives.

Transportation is the second largest source of America's emmisions and is responsible for fifty percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States but is slowly making a change towards helping the enviornment and being beneficial towards carbon emissions. In 2005, the number of miles driven in the United States was at it's highest rate. As time went by, the numbers started dropping and getting lower. Many sociologits believe that if the numbers get even lower and stay at that rate, the benefits will come for the enviornment but unfortunetly not for car companys. Paris typically has more smog than any other European capital and is working towards a way to fix that. Paris banned driving due to the intensity and abundance of the smog in their city and had people use public transportation free of charge for about a week. Not using motor vehicles for those days really did help the situation of Paris and gave people an insight as to how life would be without cars.

Vauban, an upscale community in Germany, is home to suburban pioneers who have given up their cars. Seventy percent of Vauban's family do not own cars and fifty-seven percent sold a car to move there. "Smart planning" is a component of the movement to seperate suburban life from auto use to create a denser and more compact enviornment and let people be more accesssible to public transportation. This means less space for parking, and more stores compactly placed and at short distances. In Bogota, "Car-free day" is part of an improvement campaign which helps residents of the city to see how life is life without the use of cars for a day. People use public transportation and walk to their destinations with no problem. More parks and sport centers have also been added to the area as a result of less car usage, so more space for other important things.

Dropping off your kid at daycare, then driving to work, then having to drive your child to soccer practice can be a constant and stressful cycle for most parents. Residents of suburbs that have low car usage rates claim that they are less stressful. In a suburban community with little to no motor vehicle usage, the suburb will be more compact, having more stores and buildings closer to eachother at very short distances. This makes it easier for residents to get from point A to point B quicker and more efficiently. This also allows for more walking areas with less traffic and dangerous cars to worry about.

Cars can be useful in many ways but for the better of the enviorment, peoples cities, and sanity, little to no car use is the way to go.