Reminds me of the critiques from Ivan Illich. He divided technologies into convivial and non-convivial. The telephone was convivial because it brought people together in communication. The automobile was non-convivial because it disrupted human interaction and dominated and replaced the human landscape. He died in 2002 but was apparently not enamored with the internet, the ultimate tool of communication. I don’t know the details.
Oh yeah, I've read some of his stuff on cars and it's 100% spot on. Especially the observation that cars spread out development, and so the perception that the car is "getting you somewhere" is based on the distance that the car created. Deep stuff, much intellectually richer than a lot of urbanist commentary today.
"A man with a car in a world made for feet is a god; a man in a car in a world make for cars is in traffic." - a great pithy line from Marc Barnes. Cars, like all things we make, absolutely change us (our habits) and our environment.
"cities are degraded by cars despite not relying on them, while suburbia captures some of the elements of car-free urbanism while being utterly reliant on the car—you see cities differently. You no longer groan “this is the city” when tires and brakes screech and horns honk and intersections get jammed up and some jerk speeds by"
This is a shift in my thinking too. I have loved living in the middle of nowhere before, where a lot of the infrastructure if a modern metro feels beneficial. But the joy of a real city is that same pleasant feeling can be had - but by changing the small town infrastructure for mass transit and walkable stores. If I ever find myself in traffic, I think 'this city/metro has reached it's design capacity and needs to be more walkable and more transit rich."
Granted some people don't mind the traffic and would rather live walled off from their errands and whatnot. And that is the dominant way to live today in America. We have room for everyone. But I'd like to live more conveniently
Reminds me of the critiques from Ivan Illich. He divided technologies into convivial and non-convivial. The telephone was convivial because it brought people together in communication. The automobile was non-convivial because it disrupted human interaction and dominated and replaced the human landscape. He died in 2002 but was apparently not enamored with the internet, the ultimate tool of communication. I don’t know the details.
Oh yeah, I've read some of his stuff on cars and it's 100% spot on. Especially the observation that cars spread out development, and so the perception that the car is "getting you somewhere" is based on the distance that the car created. Deep stuff, much intellectually richer than a lot of urbanist commentary today.
Highjacking this thread to say anyone who enjoys Addison's newsletter will probably find L.M. Sacasas' Convivial Society worthwhile too:
https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/
"A man with a car in a world made for feet is a god; a man in a car in a world make for cars is in traffic." - a great pithy line from Marc Barnes. Cars, like all things we make, absolutely change us (our habits) and our environment.
"cities are degraded by cars despite not relying on them, while suburbia captures some of the elements of car-free urbanism while being utterly reliant on the car—you see cities differently. You no longer groan “this is the city” when tires and brakes screech and horns honk and intersections get jammed up and some jerk speeds by"
This is a shift in my thinking too. I have loved living in the middle of nowhere before, where a lot of the infrastructure if a modern metro feels beneficial. But the joy of a real city is that same pleasant feeling can be had - but by changing the small town infrastructure for mass transit and walkable stores. If I ever find myself in traffic, I think 'this city/metro has reached it's design capacity and needs to be more walkable and more transit rich."
Granted some people don't mind the traffic and would rather live walled off from their errands and whatnot. And that is the dominant way to live today in America. We have room for everyone. But I'd like to live more conveniently