Feminism: Desiring Practices | Akis Didaskalou

Image Caption: I-40 public highway in the Nashville, TN, 1959.

12. Extra Credit | Social Space | Public Highways | 1978

Just as Bernard Tschumi mentioned in his article “The Environmental Trigger”1, he believed that no spatial organization ever changes the socio-economic structure of a reactionary society1. However, in today’s American society, there is a type of space that cannot be ignored. The emergence of this kind of space has also had a great impact on the socioeconomic structure of the society. This space is the public highways. The construction of public highways destroys disadvantaged communities in order to achieve the revival of the middle-class communities, aggravating social inequities, and thus affecting the socioeconomic structure.2

In the 1950s, the popularity of automobiles and the development trend of suburbanization increased the demand for roads. The strong support of the federal government led to rapid development of highway construction, but the construction of highways through the city would inevitably bring about large-scale house demolition, community destruction and population relocation.3 The idea of using the opportunity of building public highways to demolish urban declining areas to rejuvenate the central city existed for a long time. Robert Moses once proposed to demolish slums to make room for highways.3 The construction of the highway destroyed the homes of many ethnic minorities. Among them, the case of Interstate 40 passing through the black community of Nashville was particularly prominent. The local government chose the black community in order to avoid damage to the white community when planning the route, and deliberately concealed the black community. This case profoundly reflected the racial inequality in the highway paving process.3

The North Nashville was once the main black residential area and commercial area, which contains 80% of the black businesses.3 The construction of Interstate 40 destroyed 80% of the black businesses in North Nashville and destroyed 1/3 of the park facilities. In addition, Interstate 40 directly cut into a university area composed of three black universities, cutting off one of them from the other two.3 The construction of roads also weakened the structure of the middle class, undermined the economic foundation of business communities, reduced employment opportunities, cut off the existing connections between residents and materials and services, and destroyed multiple small businesses. In short, it disrupted all the activities and connections vital to the community, and dealt a fatal blow to the North Nashville black community.3

The highway space itself is neutral, but due to the destructive site selection plan of the state and local governments, the space directly result in the social inequality. When a space has such a large impact on the social structure, those in power should bear the main responsibility.

1. Bernard Tschumi, “The Environmental Trigger,” in A Continuing Experiment: Learning and Teaching at the Architectural Association,ed. James Gowan (London: Architectural Press, 1975), 89–99. 2. Constance Vale, “The Autonomous Future of Mobility,” Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, https://sites.wustl.edu/autonomousfuture/ the-autonomous-future-of-mobility/vehicular-landscape/. 3. Dong Jun, “American Interstate Highway Paving and Racial Conflict,” E Xue Zhe, July 3, 2019, https://www.1xuezhe.exuezhe.com/Qk/ art/700274?dbcode=1&flag=2. 29