Machine Space

What makes this cultural landscape placeless?

Answers:

  • interstate highways in particular, and roads and highways in general, illustrate the standardization of machine space by the local, state, or federal government
  • along the interstates it is difficult to know where you are--a placeless experience--and going at relatively high speeds prevents you from experiencing the details of landscapes (smells, sounds, micro weather conditions, topography, architectural details, etc.)
  • yet you DO know where you are: only by the sign!

    Placeless places, like the interstate system, were created by massive federal laws and funds, which were supplemented by state and local funds. The most important laws were: Federal Road Act, 1916; Federal Highway Act, 1917; Interstate and Defense Highway Act, 1956; Highway Beautification Act of 1965 (billboards could be no closer than 600 feet from an Interstate). As a result the USA has more miles of highways by far than any other country, including such large countries as Canada, India, and Russia. The Interstates were supposed to be completed within thirteen years, but they actually took forty years. Enough concrete was poured for the Interstates to create a sidewalk reaching five times the distance to the moon. As a defense highway, all Interstate overpasses provide seventeen feet clearance in order for missile-hauling trucks to pass under them.

    In 1970 the USA spent 131 billion dollars for highway transportation and 75 billion for education programs.
    What are the human consequences of machine space?

    For a very educational web site on this topic, go to the University of Texas.

     

    Created by  Ingolf Vogeler on 1 May 1996; last revised on 09 March 2005.