ENGR 101/HUM 200: Technology and Society

October 20, 2005

Agenda

• Exam review session reminder: 6-7:30 pm today

• More on cars!• Traffic as an international problem

America and Car Culture

• Automotive industry as culture industry (Volti)

• Automotive developments as cultural developments (Roth)

A Century of Automobility

• Growth of industry required enthusiasm and financial capital (cf. “alternative” energy research)

• Stanley Steamer (too many guages, too dangerous), Electric cars (“women’s cars”), internal combustion

Automobiles and…

• Mobility• Privacy• Power

– Mechanisms that insulated people from the outside world.

Automobiles and Style

• “More than any other industrially produced item, the automobile has succeeded in capturing the fancy of potential customers through appeals that go well beyond the utilitarian. Since technological novelty or even technological sophistication has seldom been of much interest to American drivers, the commercial success of the American automobile has been driven by styling.” Volti, page 673

The American Car Market

• Early 20th C, 45% tariff on foreign cars• Domestic petroleum• Oil companies, automobile manufacturers

ensured gas taxes in US would be kept low compared to other countries

• “vast, open country”• Linked with suburbanization

Whittier Boulevard

• Is geography destiny?• Transportation planning is technical

engineering as well as social engineering– Robert Moses and the overpasses– Whittier Boulevard and “path dependencies”

(page 732) [remember the qwerty keyboard?]

Who Played a Role in the 6th St Bridge-Building?

• City of LA council– Ceded land without

reserving easements

• Union Pacific RR– Contributed $7 million of $9

million needed

• LA City Engineers– Suggested bond issue

• State of CA– Initiated a gas tax

• W.F. Ault, Chamber of Commerce– Wanted Whittier for small

businesses

• John Prince, city engineer• State Division of

Highways• City of LA Streets

Division• Edward Roybal, City

Council

Automobiles and Urban Geography

• “Wrong side of the tracks”• Where do the sidewalks end?• Uneven, cracked pavement• Streetlights• Crosswalks

Building Infrastructure

• If you’re an engineer, it’s sure easier if you can have a conversation with the other stakeholders

• If you’re a city planner, it’s sure easier if you can have a conversation with the other stakeholders

• If you’re a city resident, it’s sure easier if you can have a conversation with the other stakeholders

Vocabulary

• Take-away from this course: be able to have a conversation with people in other fields– Values, assumptions, priorities

Creosote-soaked wood. Cheaper? More attractive? Recycled? Who would say yes to this proposal and why?

Traffic: The Global Pandemic

If Congestion isn’t going to go away…

• How have cities with the worst problems dealt with them?– Mexico City, London, Manila

London

Mayor’s Proposal

• Pay to drive into the city

Mexico City

• Serious pollution problem

Next class

• Exam #1. Bring scantron sheet!• Extra credit paper due before end of exam• Next unit schedule will be handed out