Transportation and the Suburban City

Abstract

The automobile is the central villain in any story about the suburbs, sprawl, and the ills of the contemporary city. Some of this blame may be unfair, but the automobile was the most dramatic and significant change in the way people lived during the twentieth century. It was the automobile that made it possible for a vast swath of society to live in single-family detached homes but nevertheless reach their jobs efficiently. It was the automobile that permitted places of work to scatter about the landscape rather than being concentrated within walking distance of one another. It was the automobile that resulted in acres and acres of urban areas being given over to asphalt, both in ever-wider streets and in parking lots. It was the automobile that caused buildings to be set back from the street and separated from one another. And of course, it was the automobile that begat smog and contributed so greatly to climate change. So through the rich literature of modern urban criticism, the city without the automobile has become the Holy Grail. The urban form of the automobile-dependent city poses challenges not just for the Sunbelt but also for cities throughout the United States and around the world.