DRIVING FORCES : Projections of the Car City
The gas powered internal combustion engine, designed over a century ago, has proven to be one of America’s greatest influences on urban policy, cultural and infrastructural development, and technological advancement. The American city was developed with very little insight into the future, focused on immediate gains, driven by a single fuel source, and armed with a full-fledged campaign towards a singular mode of transportation. As the threat of a global energy crisis becomes increasingly apparent, the viability of the current automobile, along with its tailored national infrastructure and the beloved car-culture, is in certain jeopardy.
We know now that this model is not sustainable, but what are the factors, or driving forces, that will create the change that ultimately leads to a new city model? This thesis seeks to develop and analyze a series of possible scenarios that yield distinct architectural movements derived from the current car city as we know it today, cognizant of the past’s lingering strengths and mindful of the future’s dwindling resource palette.
This research is to be viewed as a means of by which to identify and map some of the forces at play in the future of the city by describing their connectivity, their volatility, and understanding them through grounded, measured trajectories. The future is unknown, but by developing future scenarios one may be able to avoid paralysis from uncertainty and gain the foresight that creates positive action.