from "place and placelessness" by E. Relph (1976)
"The old road", writes Todd Snow, "was a definite place, a strip of land that went between other places." It was a road which had to be traveled slowly and which this encourages social contact as well as involving the traveler directly in the landscape. "Since the old road was basically an extension of a place it partook of the nature of all other places and was related to the geography beside the road as well as that of and at the end of the road." In contrast to this is the New Road, an essentially twentieth century creation and an extension of man's vehicle; it does not connect places nor does it link with the surrounding landscape. "The New Road generally seems to go between cities, but the primary requirement is that it start from where the people are and go on indefinitely, not that it go between places or lead to places. The Old Road started from and led to the city. The New Road starts everywhere and leads nowhere.
Snow and Relph are here talking about the fact that mass transit, mass communication have shifted away from a model based on facilitating the transfer of people, things and ideas between specific centers or places, and towards the facilitation of movement and transfer in general, as an abstract concept. The interstate highway, the internet, jet travel do not exist expressly to make possible the journey from Rome to Paris or New York to Atlanta, though they do make that journey more faster. Rather they exist to make possible rapid movement between any and all locations, reducing the friction of distance to such a degree that differentiation no longer occurs. Rather than roads coming to places, places become because of the roads. I live in Austin, which is located where the fertile plains meet the stony plateau and a great river flows through the landscape. There is a highway which tracks the path between San Antonio, Austin, Minneapolis. There are cities along its path which were settled long before the roads were built, in response to the natural landscape and the availability of natural resources and transportation (rivers). There are also places like Pflugerville and Round Rock that exist in response to the New Roads.
Kind of interesting!
Nice !
ReplyDeleteAlthough I would challenge your assertion about Round Rock !
But.... according to Wikipedia, you are correct !!!
"The economic impact of Interstate 35
"In the 1950s, Taylor was the economic powerhouse in the county due to it being the center of cotton production and shipping, and had a large poulation. So It was expected, then, that the proposed Interstate 35, part of the new Interstate Highway System would pass through Taylor on its way from Dallas to Austin. In fact, the original routing plans drawn by Highway Commioner DeWitt Greer called for the "Interregional" highway to go through Taylor. Some of the citizens and leadership of Taylor lobbied against the Taylor route citing multiple concerns ranging from the loss of farmland, to unwanted right of way (ROW) acquisition -- ROW was proposed to be an astounding 300 feet (90 m) wide, never heard of before this time—the possibility of cutting off farmers from their fields or having their fields be located on opposite sides of the road, traffic noise, and loss of country life. No one even knew what an "Interregional Highway" would look like. Instead they wanted improvements to the Farm to market roads and a "Airline Highway" (meaning a straight route), built to Austin.[33]
Meanwhile, Round Rock leaders wanted the highway to come their way as they were focused on the potential economic development opportunities it would bring. At that time no one had ever seen such a road as an "Interstate" (unless they had traveled to Germany to see the Autobahn), and then-Mayor Louis Henna lobbied hard at the Highway Commission for the Round Rock route. In June 1956, the 15-year debate over the form, funding and route of the Interstate was resolved.[34] Due to the heavy lobbying effort, and not wanting to antagonize Taylor, the route was eventually changed and the highway was built along the edge of the Balcones Fault line running through Round Rock. The precise route was not without opposition, however, as the final route cut off "Old Town" to the west from what had become the more recent "downtown" area east of Interstate 35.[35] The Interstate eventually made Round Rock into a viable and vibrant commercial center. Due to the Interstate and the reduction in the importance of cotton as a primary crop, Taylor is today a more modest town with a smaller population, while Round Rock has thrived and rapidly grown into the largest city in the county and attracting industries like Dell Computer and major retail centers.[14]
[edit] Life as a bedroom community
By the 1990s, Round Rock was primarily a bedroom community with the majority of its employed residents working in Austin and then return home after work to places like Round Rock and Georgetown where housing and land was less expensive—which is partly still true today. However in the 1990s, Round Rock had few major employers and jobs other than local retail and other services, or ranching and farming.[13] (see also Business and Economic Development Section in this article). But in the late 1990s, that began to change as economic development became a major focus of the City and the Chamber of Commerce. Dell Corp (later re-named Dell) moved its headquarters to Round Rock,[36] and provided significant jobs with 16,000 employees,[37] at it's Round Rock headquarters, as well as other major employers allowing many residents to work in the same community where they live.