As public transportation continually experienced budget cuts, the investments in the automobile infrastructure increased. The social context during this time had transitioned from wanting an automobile to needing for all of life’s functions. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 would provide the freeways and interstates that would again alter the urban and suburban American landscape. Growth in the suburban areas increased as the freeways extended outward. A network that once created to serve as a bypass of congestion in the urban areas; today more times than not serve as a beltway. This expansion in freeway system network no longer made it necessary for residents to live in specific areas based on their employment sector. They now choose their location based on the social and cultural context the area has to offer. The automobile serves as a mode where individuals can ignore the societal elements they don’t want to believe exist.
Hartshorn and Muller researched the spatial evolution of the freeway era to be able to analyze the spatial economy of the suburban landscape. Out of this research they identified five distinct growth stages. First was the formulation of the bedroom community (1945-1955). The residential construction during this stage was caused by the postwar demand. The commercial expansion to the suburbs during this time was rather limited. The independence stage (1955-1965), where the economic activity increased dramatically because of the relocation and creation of office/industrial parks on the periphery. Between 1965-1980, was classified as the catalytic growth in which they believe was the most transformative of the landscape because of the increase in services, jobs, and retail (the shopping malls). The fourth ...
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... the system to recover all or some of the investment. This raises brings up a difficult situation dealing with mainstream society and consumer demands. If the technology is invented, and there is a demand, it is important that communities take the necessary actions to ensure the safety of its citizens. However, investments should not be made as soon as it becomes readily available because it is hard to determine the longevity of the technology because of numerous variables of possibilities.
The alterations these transportation adaptations make to the natural and built environment are significant. Transportation decisions that are made have the ability to shape the lives of individuals in the local community, as well as communities in the metropolitan area. It is important that planners consider the greater scope and implications to mitigate any issues or concerns.
“Motor Age Geography” describes land use practices and new transportation policies, which in turn helped reshape roads. These key aspects helped centralized rural America, while urban areas in America were decentralized. Specific landscapes from then to now required that people of America would have to own a motor vehicle to function effectively on a day to day basis. “Fueling the Broom” goes into detail about oil wells, pipelines, service stations, and so forth. This term explains how taxes on gas became a significant source of funding for road building. “The Paths Out of Town” examines mass production and how it increased the demand for the iron ore, wood, rubber, and many other raw materials. As the need for automobiles steadily increased, American construction workers built one mile of road per square mile of land. When Americans built highways, soil erosion came into the picture along with the natural habitat for wildlife. At this time planners focused on creating a “car friendly nature” (Wells). The book informs the reader on the historical period from 1940-1960 where the government granted housing to the suburban area and highways
In the book The Great Inversion, author Alan Ehrenhalt reveals the changes that are happing in urban and suburban areas. Alan Ehrenhalt the former editor of Governing Magazine leads us to acknowledge that there is a shift in urban and suburban areas. This revelation comes as the poorer, diverse, city dwellers opt for the cookie cutter, shanty towns at the periphery of American cities known as the suburbs. In similar fashion the suburbanites, whom are socioeconomic advantaged, are looking to migrate into the concrete jungles, of America, to live an urban lifestyle. Also, there is a comparison drawn that recognizes the similarities of cities and their newer, more affluent, residents, and those cities of Europe a century ago and their residents. In essence this book is about the demographic shifts in Urban and Suburban areas and how these changes are occurring.
We take them for granted when driving miles to the closest mall. We are unconscious of their usefulness when traveling to see a distant relative by car. We can't take a moment to stop and admire their beauty and usefulness; the architectural wonders that are highways and their interchanges; which have such a rich history embedded in the American suburbia of today. Let's go back to the early 1900's, when the automobile was starting to become a dominate part of the American life (Morton, 2014). Around this time; a shift began to occur towards private transportation over public by influencing policies in their favor (Nicolaides and Wiese, 2006). One of these polices was created by the Federal Aid Highway of 1925; the United States Highway System which basically expanded the highways across the United States connecting one another, creating new opportunities for growth in many areas (Weingroff, 1996). This had many effects on different factors of the American way of life; specifically suburbia (Morton, 2014). After the war, the private home that was a luxury a few years prior, was now becoming affordable for many thanks to low interest rates and flexible payments through the National Housing Act of 1934, created by the Federal Housing Administration (Fishman, 1987). Perfect example of a policy acting towards private over public was the Los Angles Master Plan of 1941, which pushed the direction of private automobiles and singles households: there being 1.16 million cars (2.4 people per car) and having 31 percent of the city land dedicated for single family homes, this was really solidifying the post suburbia lifestyle (Fishman, 1987). In Los Angeles alone around this time, 900 square miles were transformed to tract development homes ...
Now, a normal sized town contains fast-food joints, supermarkets, malls, and superstores, but a small town lacks that appeal. The small-town could be the most beautiful landscape known to man, but lack the necessary luxuries in life that a typical American would benefit from. Carr and Kefalas make this statement that emphasizes the town’s lack of appeal, “Indeed the most conspicuous aspects of the towns landscape may be the very things that are missing; malls, subdivisions, traffic and young people” (26). The authors clearly state that they realize that towns, such as the Heartland, are hurting because of the towns’ lack of modernization. For all intents and purposes, the town’s lack of being visually pleasing is driving away probable citizens, not only the native youth, and possible future employee’s away from a possible internship with the town. The citizens with a practice or business hurt from the towns inability to grow up and change along with the rest of the world, yet the town doesn’t realize what bringing in other businesses could potentially do for their small town. Creating more businesses such as malls, superstores and supermarkets would not only drive business up the roof, but it’ll also bring in revenue and draw the
The impact of the automobile between 1900 through 1945 was immense. It paved the way for a future dependency on the automobile. To paint a better picture, imagine life without an automobile. Everyday life would be dull, cumbersome, and tedious. An individual's mobility would be very limited. Basically, the life without an automobile could not be fathomed. The importance of the automobile is often taken for granite. Society may not know what appreciate the impact of the automobile and effects it has created. The impact of the automobile had both positive and negative effects on America between 1900 through 1945. Automobile provided an outlet for individuals and spread the freedom of travel among all classes of people. It also helped to introduce rural dwellers to the aspects of urban life and vice versa. One of the negative effects was that automobiles helped to put of big decline in the use of railroads. Over the course of the paper, I will try to expose the huge impact of the automobile an early twentieth century life.
Car culture had caused some serious headaches for city planners in the 1950s. They had not anticipated the added traffic when building cities and were forced to adjust their plans with mixed results. There were many side effects to the restructuring of the city, and most were not good for the city center. Business and customers were no longer funneled into the now crowded city center in favor of the more spacious and convenient periphery. Community life as well as business in the city center really suffered as a result of suburbanization caused by the car. Jane Jacobs says in her chapter called "Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles" in the book Autopia, "Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles (259...
Wilson begins his article with a hypothetical scenario in which the proposition for the mass production of the automobile is being raised today as a current issue. Within this fictional scenario, he explains that many aggressive predictions and complaints regarding the negative effects of cars on society would be made and that due to such strong opposition, the personal car would probably not be created. Wilson returns to this scenario later on in the article, explaining that people living in a carless nation would be forced to have small homes, located in large, highly dense cities where the streets are congested by pedestrians, trucks, and buses (Wilson 22). He also insists that travelling in such a country would be hard, and that when you did, the only places you would be able to travel to would be crowded areas which were able to support a nearby train stop (Wilson 22). Wilson insist that living in such a nation would be unpleasant, having many serious problems, unlike the trivial ones used by anti-car critics to discourage car usage now.
In the twentieth century, the introduction of the motor vehicle in the United States became not only noteworthy, but also vital in the development of modern American civilization. This technologically complex machine led citizens to vast future dependency on the invention. While mobility was suddenly not limited to alternative, more convoluted options such as railroad stations or bicycles, yet copiously amplified to aid convenience and expanded leisure opportunities. From auto-racing to redesigning infrastructure, motor vehicles allowed progression, digression, and essentially uttermost change to lifestyles of the American people.
Mark Clapson. 2003. Suburban Century: Social Change and Urban Growth in England and the USA. Berg. New York.
“Could suburbs prosper independently of central cities? Probably. But would they prosper even more if they were a part of a better-integrated metropolis? The answer is almost certainly yes.” (p. 66)
Richard C. Nelson, the author, is a professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and the Planning Degree program at the University of Arizona. He has made substantial contributions in real estate analysis and urban growth trends. Nelson also created the term ‘megapolitan’ which he predicts the United States will have over twenty by 2040. These megapolitans are the result of the reverse sprawl and creating major economic centers, which will make America globally competitive. Nelson’s background ties in to many of his ideas in the book, with the main points focusing on demographic changes, housing trends, more space for future jobs and the benefits of reshaping metropolitan America. Changing demographics support the notion that more people are choosing an urban lifestyle over sprawl, which means a higher preference of
This sort of rapid growth entails exactly why the automobile has impacted many societal norms that people are familiar with in American culture. From its creation, there were sudden changes in societal structures and an increased culture relevance that rushed through American society. To begin with, the automobile was first a luxury only achieved by the wealthy. *Find a source* what a difference a few decades makes. At the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Ford proudly unveiled the latest edition of MyFord Touch, an in-car communication and entertainment system available in most of its models. An amazing technical achievement, the system can do fun things — like seamlessly integrate a smartphone or mobile media player with the vehicle’s audio system to facilitate hands-free operation.Now, we have roads to drive on everywhere, so an increase infrastructure and travel became a societal norm. Construction of roads made travel easier and faster, and in the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the federal Interstate Highway System, which once completed, allowed citizens to take their increasingly stylish and roadworthy cars on long trips to other states or even across the country. The new normal quickly became “driving” and
It started with a governmental incentive of getting America out of the Great Depression. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was “signed into law by FDR, designed to serve urban needs” (Jackson, 196). This law protected homeownership, not only that, “it introduced, perfected, and proved in practice the feasibility of the long-term, self-amortizing mortgage with uniform payments spread over the whole life of the debt” (Jackson, 196). Because of this new law, it was cheaper to buy a house than rent. Then came the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that encouraged citizens to reside in new residential developments and/or areas with FHA-approved features, like Levittown. Mass-produced cars and cheap gasoline made the option of moving to a suburban area more of a reality for many families because now they can think to live such a lifestyle. With cars, come commuters who needs accessible roads to drive to and from work, to go grocery shopping, etc. which mean that the government need to pave roads for such commute to happen. “The urban expressways led to lower marginal transport costs and greatly stimulated deconcentration,” (Jackson, 191). As Jackson expressed, “The appeal of low-density living over time and across regional, class, and ethnic lines was so powerful that some observers came to regard it as natural and inevitable,” (190). Urban areas were becoming too crowded, too heterogeneous, more and more crimes were breaking out everyday; this is not an ideal living condition for a lot of people so moving to a bigger, more spread out area is a great contestant. Therefore, some of the key factors that explains the growth of the suburbs are housing policy (FHA & HOLC), mass-produced houses, mass-produced cars, cheap fuel, and government funding
Kotkin, Joel. “Suburbia’s Not Dead Yet.” Latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. 6 July 2008. Web. 23 April 2012.
Most people take the urban public transportation system for granted. It is used in every aspect of our daily lives: work, education, medical necessities, recreation, etc. It is also important for the transportation of goods and services, which aids the growth and maintenance of our economy. Urban public transportation is the critical component of our quality of life and economic stability. The MBTA, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is Boston and Eastern Massachusetts’s major transportation service. The MBTA has played a central role in the development of Boston and surrounding cities and towns for more than a century; providing service from 175 cities and towns into Boston. On an average weekday over 1.2 million trips are made on the subway, buses, commuter lines and other services in the mass transit system. With an international airport, a ship port, the highways, and the rail lines to connect regional cities and towns to national and international destinations and markets, Boston’s urban public transportation system has made the region’s growing role in the global economy possible.