# Our cars are outgrowing our cities

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2026-06-30

cars, mobility, transport-and-environment, transit, tokyo, planning, built-environment

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Now that a car seat lives permanently in the backseat of my car and I have learned how much it compresses the passenger seat in front of it, I have on more than one occasion thought to myself, "I guess this is why people feel the need to buy bigger cars." And the data shows this is true: cars generally keep getting bigger.

A brand-new [report](https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/ever-bigger-car-size-at-a-crossroads) from Transport & Environment found that over the last 25 years in the EU, the UK, and Norway, the average newly-sold car has increased in length by 1.2 cm per year, in height by 0.5 cm per year, and in width by 0.5 cm per year.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/14c39c94fea95f9828c477e2bbfaa5c6a8180df8d8ac0d0d855aa170d996f5d2.png)

But it's not necessarily because buyers are looking to fit more kids and car seats. Average household sizes have fallen in the US, so it's similar to housing: people are having fewer kids and, therefore, want to consume bigger homes (and cars). My cursory understanding is that there tends to be some [gamesmanship](https://me.engin.umich.edu/news-events/news/cafe-standards-could-mean-bigger-cars-not-smaller-ones/#:~:text=So%20the%20concept%20of%20vehicle,less%20ambitious%20fuel%2Deconomy%20targets.) with car sizes and emissions targets, but I do also think it's a case of consumers just wanting bigger and better.

For those of us who deal in the built environment, this is an important trend to consider because larger cars (1) tend to kill more pedestrians and (2) take up more space in our cities. The report estimates that, if current trends continue, European cities could lose between 8.5 and 14% of their on-street parking spaces by 2040.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a1daf2ec9164d5646f329ff4c7ad960ba3b0368615836bee031cb80897771307.png)

Small marginal changes of only a few centimetres may not seem material on an individual basis, but when you layer on pedestrian deaths, urban parking constraints and traffic congestion, it only strengthens the case for the [Tokyo model of urbanism](https://brandondonnelly.com/rail-oriented-development-in-tokyo).

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_Cover photo by_ [_Oleksandr Voloshchenko_](https://unsplash.com/@voloshchenkoal?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) _on_ [_Unsplash_](https://unsplash.com/photos/milan-cathedral-with-cars-and-statue-in-foreground-KNVcHB7CrUw?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)

_Slides from_ [_Transport & Environment_](https://uploads.transportenvironment.org/production/files/2026_06_TE_Ever_Bigger_report_final.pdf?dm=1782208640)

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/our-cars-are-outgrowing-our-cities)*