EPD abstract

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 1996, volume 14, pages 257 - 271

Off road: four-wheel drive and the sense of place

Peter Bishop
School of Communication and Information Studies, University of South Australia, Magill, South Australia 5072, Australia
Received 20 April 1995; in revised form 12 September 1995

Abstract. In this paper I argue that the popularity of four-wheel drive vehicles has important consequences for contemporary notions of place and should be considered in the context of the upsurge in high-tech, especially communication, systems. Four-wheel drive culture encompasses both a literal mobility and a fantasy relationship between urban or suburban regions and those of the great outdoors, especially wilderness. By using the Australian experience as a case study I show that four-wheel drive culture plays a crucial part in the construction of what could be called the deep outback and the deep suburbs. It thereby plays a significant role in a renegotiation of the iconography of national identity.