Evolution of Transportation Planning

The past couple of lectures have been broadening my knowledge about the history of planning and how it has changed. I really like learning about the history of cities and how places like the suburbs came to be. I especially liked out last lecture about post World War two planning because we got to catch a glimpse of what was to come. The Age of Highway Planning and Smart Growth seemed very interesting to me. Smart growth, as defined in class lectures, is a theory that encourages compact urban centers that encourage walkability and sustainably integrating our built environment with the natural resources around us.

I enjoyed the reading from Bluestone about the Dynamics of Metropolitan Development. I really like learning about city planning and history because I'm from and love living in a big city. Some parts of the reading that stuck out to me was the post-World War two transportation revolution. The three talked about in the reading was the Federal Aid Highway Act, which started the mass creation of highways. The second was about containerization, which gave large boxes on trucks and railroads that made mass production reachable anywhere in America. The final transportation revolution concept was the creation of jumbo jet aircrafts, which were large aircrafts that could carry a huge number of passengers and goods from all over the world. Highways crisscross all over the country so I never thought to question what transportation was like before that. It makes sense that highways were a major contribution to the transportation revolution. Going hand in hand with highway creations is the creation of mass containerization. The mass production of containerization includes big box cars and shipping crates filled with goods/ cargo that can be attached to trucks and driven across the highways. The final concept of the post-World War 2 transportation revolution was the creation of jumbo jet aircrafts. Large aircrafts were now able to connect the world so being close to a place of business was no longer necessary. The jumbo jets also made it easier to ship things from faraway places.

The concept of transportation is very interesting to me because of the way it helped create a globalized world. Modes of transportation throughout history such as ships, railways, cars, and airplanes have quickly connected a diverse group of people that create a new type of foreign affairs.

Something I found interesting during class and class readings was the concept of smart growth. We talked about it in class a couple of lectures ago, and it came up again during an assigned reading. Defined in Bluestone as a movement that seeks to 'increase density through planned development so as to limit further suburban sprawl.' But based on lectures the focus of smart growth isn’t on limiting suburban sprawl, but about sustainable urbanism. Including more public green space and reducing energy consumption. The concepts of smart growth are what I picture when I think of a city I want to make and live in; stores and schools within walking distance and the use of public transportation.

A new concept I learned from a Bluestone reading is the New Urbanism movement. Both concepts sound similar, but New Urbanism seems to be about more about how our built environment should be culturally linked to each other and 'enhance the economic health and harmonious evolution of neighborhoods, districts, and land corridors.' New Urbanism focuses more on the architectural aspect of a community, such as having local corner stores in each neighborhood to promote community between local residents.

One concept of New Urbanism Bluestone talked about that I found funny was the principal to make streets skinnier to force drivers to slow down and increase room for pedestrians. While I agree that making the streets smaller would give pedestrians more room to walk, they could also give businesses more room for outdoor seating. I think if stores and cafes have more room outside for people to sit it could encourage more leisure, but I can’t imagine skinnier streets slowing cars down. It might encourage people to use public transportation, but if streets are smaller it could also make it harder for transportation to function.

Some principals in both concepts seem like they could work and some I think aren’t as realistic, such as the new urbanism principal of turning down lights where safety isn’t an issue. I think smart growth and new urbanism are interesting concepts and I think the only way to see if they could truly work is by implementing them.

Work Cited

Bluestone, Barry, et al. The Urban Experience: Economics, Society, and Public Policy. Oxford University Press, 2008.