They will enable entirely new modes of transportation and vehicle management that could accelerate the decline in private car ownership. Autonomous vehicles won’t merely eliminate the need to hold a steering wheel. Rather, as autonomous-vehicle companies continue testing and lobbying, we will find ourselves redesigning society to accommodate that technology in ways that go far beyond safety. This world was designed by well-meaning urban planners, business owners, politicians, and private citizens who thought they were building the spaces where prosperity would grow, with the personal automobile as its driving force. Dealerships, auto repair shops, strip malls, and car washes, all ringed by vast parking lots, line a six-lane roadway that is deeply discouraging to navigate by foot. To meet friends, to send children to school, to attend a concert or a movie, is to buy into car culture and its attendant traffic jams, parking-space hunts, and maintenance responsibilities for a vehicle that is expensive to purchase and rapidly loses value.Ĭamelback Road, one of those major arteries, is a 33-mile temple to this cult of the car. You might choose to live downtown in one of the few patches of walkable urban space, but your access to groceries, drugstores, and other amenities will be severely limited. Anything else effects your passive or active exclusion from a host of activities and, more broadly, from the culture itself. Try again later.A sprawling grid fueled by swooping highways and generous arterial roads, the Phoenix metropolitan area is a gargantuan expression of the car culture that defines the urban experience for most Americans. An error has occurred the feed is probably down.Our Facebook Feed Twitter Tweets by downtownvoices Downtown Phoenix news This space is also popular for bikini-clad sunbathers, who consequently create a popular activity for those on the fifth and sixth floors of every building that surrounds it.įacebook Follow us on Twitter My Tweets Blogging Downtown Third Friday Concerts are back on at the Civic Space Park (under the large, flying blue object) at 424 N.Check out the Phoenix Public Libraryfor refuge from the sun, a quiet afternoon, or a ride up and down the elevator (seriously).Heard also hosts free admission events every third Friday. The Heard Museumis free for students on Sunday, August 15 (just show your Sun Card).
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