Lopez, camilo, we move

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On The Subjects of:

Planning and Transportation

by Camilo Lopez

Planning and Growth Management I Summer 2014 I Professor Muriente I Thoughts on Transportation..

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To be alive is to move. As we look back in the history of transportation, we see

a history parallel with that of humankind. In this paper the findings on these two inseparable subjects its set forth. First, the definition of Urban Planning and its design component. Then, the meaning of transportation and its relation to us and to the city. If we can formulate an equation with these two premises the result will undoubtedly be reflected on our economical and social dimensions. The subject of Urban Planning is no recent development (Olmsted, Aug 1910) The components: Urban Planning + Design

Lets begin by the semantic deconstruction of the first premise. Lets dismantle

the Definition of Urban. When we think of Urban we might coined the term with a place where the conglomeration of human activity takes place. This may be reference in a high dense society. Urban as a manmade environment. The creation of pave roads, buildings, infrastructures, and cities. Urban as an industrial based society. The relatively new term of Urban came into existence as a way to name the industrial city. The technological advancement, the factories, and the mass production assembly lines are all related with what is consider Urban. Now we have the place in the definition of the Urban Planning and Design. Let's consider the planning definition as a component of the place. Planning as the mental process of thinking ahead. The theoretical element non physical ideal component. Planning as the physical process of organizing human activities. The allocation of uses in certain areas, such as, residential, commercial, industrial, and so on. Also the implementation of circulatory systems in and out of certain areas. Planning is also coined with the overall process that stipulates a system, therefore it manipulates it.

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In cities we the planners are the major force that organizes and manages the process by which a city's physical environment is oriented and maintained. Moreover, as we plan the physical realm it inherently affects all other aspects, such as, the economical and social behaviors. Now that we have the place and the bureaucracy of the meaning of Urban Planning and Design, let's turn to the meaning of design.

Design can be defined as the creation of an idea. By means of drawing it or by physically constructing it. Design is a process that embodies certain mental faculties.

As a discipline of sensibility and ingenuity. To be a designers is to have the human touch, creativity, and innovation. We are all designers. What makes a difference of a good designer to one who is not, is the ability to think. When we say think we refer to the mental action of understanding a subject in depth. A good designer is one that is pragmatic. The ability to be practical thoughtful relates to the whole and does not leave anything in ambiguity.

What is Urban Planning + Design?

Now, let's put it together. Urban Design is the result of Urban Planning, and

Urban Planning is the process of organizing our civilized industrialized societies.

When we plan our cities we are in a process of thinking ahead and of reacting to current circumstances. The importance of such profession lies on our daily interaction with such elements the we plan for. We experience Urban Planning and Design every day to go to work, to school, to church, to play, to exercise, or just simply to interact. As a profession we set the playground for human interaction [to live]. By allocating uses, circulation paths, means of transport, agriculture, foods, means of foods, ideas, ideals, theory, and now. Urban as the profession is a technical

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and political process concerned with the organization of the human habitat for human activities. The planning of use of land and design of the urban environment, including its circulation on water, air, or ground.

Transportation: Its Meaning + Roots

In its most simplest terms transportation could be defined as a movement of

things ‐ masses of any sort ‐ from one place to another. It is nearly impossible to create an imagine of early humans, no matter how primitive, that does not involve people moving themselves and their goods about in the best way they knew how. In history, transportation have been present as a major force of revolutionary changes.

We can categorized transportation in history into four distinctive epochs. First, the Primitive Man who walk, who used wood sleds to carry goods, who used animal power, such as, the horse, who created dirt roads in Mesopotamia to transport goods from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, who started to settle on fertile grounds. Second, the Ancient Man who rode horses, who invented the wooden wheel for carriages, who improved the dirt roads with more sophisticated techniques, who the Romans built the modern road ways, who fortify their empires. Third, the Enlightenment Man who drove the steam boats, who created the steam engine, who started to pave roads in England, who created the asphalt that makes our roads smooth, who created the first machines, who started the Industrial Revolution, who advanced in technology and scientific research. And the fourth, the Modern Man who can fly, who goes to space, who created the gas powered mechanisms, who has cars, who created highway systems, who created computers and wireless connectivity, who can go anywhere within this sphere. History of Transportation had a revolutionary

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shift in recent times due to urbanization. According to the World Health Organization, in times when we lived in agricultural based societies in the 19th century; 2 out of every 10 people lived in an urban area. Compared to the mass industry based society which recorded that in 2010 more than half of the world's population live in an urban area. And it is predicted that by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will live in a city.

The Purpose of Transportation Well, with such alarming data it is expected that the population in cities will grow by large amounts. When human conglomeration increases in an area the transportation planning is vital for its well being. The purpose of transportation is to move goods and people in and around our cities. Think of the circulation of goods/products in and out of factories. The paths they take to the water or air ports in order to supply the consumers demands. Think of people moving to those factories. How will they get from their home to their place of work or study or entertainment. Therefore, the vital importance of transportation to our economical and social dimensions.

Reflection on Economical + Social Dimensions

The efficiency of good or poor transport to fulfill our economical system

influences our efficiency and long term prosperity. If we have better circulation equals more money, and more money equals more growth. For instance, if we have dedicated road lanes for industrial purposes, in order, to facilitate their movement of goods. The company can export or import more goods, which means more business, and it relates to an increase of money. In the case of having more or a lucrative business because the transport is effective, that means that more people can be Planning and Growth Management I Summer 2014 I Professor Muriente I Thoughts on Transportation..

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employ. And if more people is employ, that means that more people have means to have a home and children with the basic needs. In the case of bad circulation equals less money [poverty], and less money equals less growth. In the social dimension the way we interact with people is reflected on transportation by means of individualism or collectivism. Transportation directly or indirectly, conscious or unconsciously, Develops or under develops our social skills. For instance in the mass transit systems we encourage a possible interaction that would connect people to people. On the other hand, the car individuality represents less interaction between people. In the social dimension we are aware of the importance of understanding how people behave in and interact with public spaces, and we recognize the pros and cons of the various means of transportation.

The Importance of Transportation

Transportation is important because we interact with it every day. In reference

to a city it represents more than 40 percent of a city's entire land coverage.

Transportation systems shapes the type of places we live in. For instance the modern home with parking, the dependence on the car, the privacy, and the living isolation.

By means of transportation [car] we can have this, and the debate is: is it good or bad or neither or there is no middle. We can compare this with living in the downtown and biking and walking everywhere, or with that living on a farm and going to the city. Transportation dictates how far can we go: the more apart, the more individual, the more we all built our dream home.

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Final Thought

Today, we look back to see, and not to make mistakes, and plan for the future.

So we see, before we had less technology and more physical interaction, more human contact, more street live, more use of trolley, therefore people walk. Now, today we have more technology [“more advancement”?], more money, more digitalization.

Therefore, less human contact, less street live, more car dependence, less use of transit system. Today is not a desirable transportation outlook; in respect to the good ideals. It is facile to imagine more and more advancement in means of transportation, as we planners keep trying to implement our theoretical discourse. It is an ongoing situation of cause and effect, as technology invents new mechanism we adapt and plan for them. We in the profession are mere reactors to urban stimuli's.

We are a reflection of the Highway Act of 1956 and its car dependence, and of the Suburban America. Now, let's think and foresee what will be the next generation's reflection on what we create.

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Works Cited: References

Anne E. Mosher, B. D. (Oct. 1995). Downtown Dynamics. Geographical Review, Vol. 85, No. 4, Thematic Issue: American Urban Geography , pp. 497‐517.

Aronovici, C. (Jan, 1914). Suburban Development. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 51, Housing andTown Planning , pp. 234‐238.

Cooley, C. H. (May, 1894). The Theory of Transportation. In C. H. Cooley, The Theory of Transportation (pp. pp. 13‐148). Publications of the American Economic Association.

Darwin, C. (Nov, 1859). The Origin of Species. London: John Murray.

Florian, M. (Dec, 1987). The Practice of Transportation Planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 38, No. 12 , pp. 1218‐1219.

Lewis, W. M. (Sep, 1936). The Significance of Transportation to Civilization. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 187, Railroads , pp. 1‐6.

Notteboom, D. J.‐P. (2013). THE GEOGRAPHY OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS. In J.‐P. Rodrigue, The Geography of Transport Systems (p. pp. 143). New York: Routledge.

Olmsted, F. L. (Aug 1910). Art and Progress. City Planning , pp. 284‐290.

Wood, H. A. (Jul, 1917). Planning the Future America. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , pp. 19‐23.

Planning and Growth Management I Summer 2014 I Professor Muriente I Thoughts on Transportation..

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Planning and Growth Management I Summer 2014 I Professor Muriente I Thoughts on Transportation..