Cultural Change. The Automobile as an Example of Innovation

Culture is dynamic, and as such are subject to continual change over time. Cultural changes occur in response to changes in the environment, to improvements in technology, and to interaction with other cultures.

Changes in culture result from the processes of innovation and diffusion. (Recall our discussion of expansion diffusion in Chapter 1.) An innovation is a new idea whose implementation results in cultural change. Recent history provides numerous examples of innovations that have led to major changes in cultures throughout the world. Computers, birth control, aviation, and modern telecommunications have revolutionized cultures everywhere.

The Automobile as an Example of Innovation. The relationship between cultural change and innovation is reciprocal. Innovation causes cultural change, while cultural change triggers further innovation.

The invention of the automobile illustrates the reciprocity of innovation and cultural change. The automobile revolutionized transportation, with profound effects on cultures throughout the world. Although the technology needed to produce automobiles had been developed by the late nineteenth century, automobile ownership began to spread in Europe and became widespread in the United States only after World War I. Mass-production technology greatly reduced the cost of automobile production. By the 1920s, most middle-class families could afford to purchase cars. Large-scale automobile ownership began to revolutionize the cultures of the United States. Western Europe, and other countries throughout the world.

Since the development of the automobile, urban cultural landscapes have changed considerably. Cities built prior to the invention of mechanized transportation were small, compact, and densely populated. Automobiles greatly reduced the friction of distance within urban areas, resulting in considerable urban decentralization. Car owners could reside in less crowded surroundings and still commute easily to work in downtown areas.

The decentralization of urban areas reinforced the dependency of Americans on their cars. In suburban areas, most shopping areas, businesses and residential developments are inaccessible to those without cars. This has discouraged elderly, handicapped, and impoverished people from moving to the suburbs. Many car owners opted to purchase detached, single-family houses in preference to living in apartment buildings. Whereas multifamily residences encourage people to socialize with their neighbors, detached single-family dwellings tend to discourage such socialization. Some contemporary suburban residents maintain little or no contact with their neighbors, relying instead on their cars to transport them to visit friends and relatives outside their immediate neighborhoods.

Increased reliance on automobiles generated demands for improved highways. In the United States, long-distance automobile transportation was revolutionized in the 1950s and 1960s by the construction of the Interstate Highway System. The Interstate System connected distant metropolitan centers and facilitated the movement of large numbers of people throughout the country. The operation of interstate highways led to additional changes in American culture.

This fundamental change in highway-construction philosophy enabled the Interstate Highway System to reduce the friction of distance still further. Cities decentralized even farther into the countryside, while interstate highways facilitated long-distance recreational and vacation travel. This change had profound effects on the distribution of various recreational opportunities. For example, the construction of interstate highways created a boom in Colorado's ski business, while many ski resorts in the Upper Midwest went bankrupt. The small ski areas in Minnesota, Iowa, and the Dakotas could no longer compete with those farther west; skiers from the Midwest could now reach the more challenging slopes of Colorado much more conveniently.

Cultural landscapes within urban areas also changed dramatically as automobile use became increasingly popular. Landscape features associated with outmoded methods of transportation, such as livery stables, hitching posts, and stagecoaches, were eliminated from the cultural landscape. Gasoline stations, parking lots, traffic lights, and garages were added (Figure 2-5).

Figure 2-5. A Parking Structure in Downtown Chicago. Our cultural landscape changed to reflect our dependence on the automobile. In downtown areas of major cities, parking structures, some architecturally unique, are necessary to accommodate the volume of automobiles that come into the city each day, while at the same time, make the most efficient use of the land

Automobile dealerships, body shops, delivery services, fast-food restaurants, motels, junkyards, and other businesses catering directly to the needs of automobile owners became commonplace. Today, as much as one-third of all urban land is devoted to uses directly involving automobiles.