The Highway And The American City
Author(s)
T. Shelton
Abstract
This paper traces the history of the difficult relationship between the highway
and the American city. The highway/urban interface is seen as the site of a
struggle for primacy between the infrastructure of the highway, which prioritizes
speed and individual experience, and types of ‘gentle infrastructures’ that
support the intricate interactions of groups of people in complex urban
environments. Particular attention is given to the inequities that arise as a result
of the conflict between these two types of infrastructure – inequities that have
both social and environmental dimensions and that eventually sparked numerous
revolts against urban highways.
This conflict is set against the backdrop of the early development of the
highway in America as a predominantly rural phenomenon. The highway is seen
both as playing an important role in the economic development of the American
countryside and as serving as a means through which ideas about national
identity were projected onto the continental landscape. In the countryside at large
scales and high speeds, and nearly without conflicting ‘gentle infrastructure’, the
social reading of the highway is a predominately positive one, although its
environmental impact remains somewhat troubling. It is suggested then that
failure to understand how social interpretation of the highway must change with
its context led to its misapplication in the American city.
Finally, the paper examines the recent trend of eliminating urban segments of
the highway system. It is suggested that this movement presents the possibility of
introducing numerous environmentally progressive infrastructures into the fabric
of the city, which might otherwise be too crowded to receive them.
Keywords: urban, infrastructure, highway, cities.
Keywords
urban, infrastructure, highway, cities
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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