Technological Advancement and the Suburban "Car Country"

In the book Car Country: An Environmental History, Wells states “[T]he urbanization, industrialization, and rapid technological development… remade the United States with lightning speed in the decades after the Civil War.” (pg. 7). The Industrial Revolution was a time of great urban changes in both Europe and the United States as new industry in the cities attracted an influx of people looking for employment. Out of these three factors that Wells mentions in the text, I believe that rapid technological development is what played the biggest role in setting the stage for America to become the suburban “car country” it is today, simply because rapid technological development directly caused the other two factors of urbanization and industrialization.

If it wasn’t for rapid technological development, the process of industrialization would have never occurred. Industrialization was made possible only by the technological advances that increased productivity and manufacturing capabilities. In return, industrialization directly resulted in the process of urbanization as the greater opportunities for employment drew in people from rural areas and cities began developing quite rapidly. None of these processes would be possible without the several technological advancements that came about during that time. According to Wells,

The Industrial Revolution, with its new factory system of manufacturing, had begun to reshape the spatial arrangements of American cities beginning in the 1830s. Before the Industrial Revolution, when the craft apprentice system dominated American manufacturing, few cities had distinct areas devoted exclusively to residential use. [if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>CITATION Chr14 \p 8 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element: field-end'></span><![endif].

Following this great growth in cities, technological development of transportation made it possible for individuals and families to move further and further away from their workplaces and the conveniences of the central city. Prior to this, people mostly lived within walking distance of their workplace. In fact, the periphery of cities was more often than not associated with unsatisfactory living conditions. Wells states,

Those with the greatest wealth and highest social standing tended to occupy prime real estate in the city’s center, but they still lived cheek by jowl with poorer neighbors who crowded into nearby alleys and courtyards. Suburbs occupied the least desirable land on the urban periphery, where noisy and otherwise undesirable enterprises like tanneries, glue factories, and slaughterhouses predominated. [if supportFields]><span style='mso-element: field-begin'></span>CITATION Chr14 \p 9 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif].

Without the type of technology that spawned the Industrial Revolution, the suburbs and, obviously the automobile, would not have progressed into the suburban “car country” it is today.

As this time of great urbanization was marked by increasing population growth and new technological development, great changes began to occur on the American landscape. The old models of living no longer seemed plausible as industrialization created a new way of life for many Americans. This led to massive changes in the way Americans viewed transportation and opened doors to new ways of viewing traveling possibilities. According to Wells:

An opportunity existed, the era’s reformer’s believed, to remake roads and streets in ways that would fundamentally transform travel possibilities, promote economic growth, and create a healthier, more moral, less chaotic society. The practical results of their campaign varied widely, but together they set changes in motion that slowly but permanently transformed the relationships that Americans had with their roads and streets, with one another, and with the natural world. [if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>CITATION Chr14 \p 8 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element: field-end'></span><![endif]

The development of the railroad resulted in many great changes for both urban and rural settlements. It allowed for people in the city to move further out from the urban center as the railroad provided them with a more convenient way of transporting into town than before – it was no longer a necessity to live within walking distance of your place of employment. The growth in technology not only affected urban areas but also set out changes in the rural areas and provided new capabilities to farmers. Well states, “[I]ndustrialization and rapid technological advancements drove equally profound changes in the American countryside, reinforcing the idea that new technologies were empowering farmers to surmount long-standing environmental limits.” [if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>CITATION Chr14 \p 11 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]. The railroads allowed farmers to seek out and settle in fertile land with good farming potential further out than before. The railroad not only provided access to their consumer market but also to the goods that were being produced in the urban factories.

The time during, and following, the Industrial Revolution marked some great changes for the American landscape and way of life. It is marked as a time of great urbanization, industrialization, and rapid technological advancement. The developing technology directly contributed to the increasing population growth and urbanization and industrialization occurring within these urban areas and pushed American life into the suburban “car country” as we know today.

Works Cited

Wells, C. W. (2014). Car Country: An Environmental History. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

#urban #suburban #automobile #industrialization