2005-12-19 17:55 | fche blog politics suburban mobility
Both Ian and Graydon have talked about the matter of cars and suburbia. I am not an expert in urban philosophy, but I might risk one small insight.
Both gentleman have expressed fondness for public transit, preferring to ride a bus instead of a car, though in a different way. Graydon thinks cars isolate people from their surroundings by glass and velocity. Ian finds a little familiar society on buses.
To me, the urban social contact found while walking along on a street, or riding along in a bus, is not substantial. There is only potential interaction. In a crowded downtown as in a crowded bus, people will just be passing through to their real destination, while being metaphorically or actually enclosed together. The group that forms from such incidental co-enclosure is not a miniscule family to gather comfort from – it is just a mellowed-out mob of anonymous passerbys.
My current favorite objection to mass transit is the self-disempowerment that this entails. A passenger relinquishes direct control over one’s travels, the safety of one’s person, and hands it to the driver/pilot. He surrenders his preferences to the logistic constraints involved in serving the aggregate demand. It is a little like going to a supermarket to pick from a standard menu of mass-produced food. He is depending on the system.
Driving is a little like farming in terms of being the reward and burden of individual effort. They still depend on infrastructure (fuel, roads, maintenance), but these are less immediate, more easily substituted by one’s own efforts. They cut a tangible umbilical cord between the individual and the impersonal society at large. I like that.
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Sigh, driving cuts both ways. Sometimes I wish I could say to a cute guy who was about to walk to the subway “wait for me, I’ll walk with you”, but no, I drive a car and can’t say that. On the other hand, I could say “would you like a lift?” and hope we were going in the same direction. I think the benefit and hindrance only come up when you actually want to socialize. I’ve been commuting to the same work place for 4 years now, for the first 3 years since I wasn’t looking for cute boys, it made no difference if I drove or bused. Now that I have my eyes open, I am really noticing the benefit/hindrance associated with driving. Li - 2005-12-19 23:54
I don’t substantially disagree with what you write, I just want to clarify.
My point about the urban social contact was not really about interaction per se, it was simply that you regularly see other people, people very different from you. You can never start to think that they don’t exist, or that everybody is more or less like you.
Also, I’m not opposed to cars. I just don’t like driving. I do think your comparison between driving and public transit is slightly forced. I am very aware when driving on the highway that my life is quite literally in the hands of dozens of other people driving close to me at high speeds. You (the generic you, not you personally) may feel safer and more empowered when driving yourself; statistically you are most likely safer when riding public transit. I know you weren’t talking only about safety, but you did mention it. Ian Lance Taylor (Email) (URL) - 2005-12-20 01:43
Good point, both of you, about exposure to diverse strangers. (Some months ago, I wrote here about how exhilarating this can be.) Yet, one does not require a daily reminder.
Regarding taking charge of safety, you are right that it does not imply an increase. Instead, it puts on one’s own shoulders the ongoing responsibility to manage the risks, to maintain active surveillance of the situation. I value the additional mental effort. (Not always – I take the train, and enjoy relaxing in passive passengership sometimes.) Frank - 2005-12-20 08:58