Ted Conover has a great book for civil engineers. The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today (2010). A road to a civil engineer is material and geometry. Conover looks at roads in six different locations -- in six different contexts. Each of the six has a theme - - development versus environment, isolation versus progress, military occupation, transmission of disease, social transformation, and the future of the city. He explores roads and their transforming impact - - their impact on the environment, politics, economics, culture - - both the power and paradox of roads and mobility.
He writes:
Every road is a story of striving: for profit, for victory in battle, for discovery and adventure, for survival and growth, or simply for livability. Each path reflects our desire to move and connect. Anyone who has benefited from a better road - - a shorter route, a smoother and safer drive - - can testify to the importance of good roads. But when humans strive, we also err, and it is hard to build without destroying. Robert Moses, the controversial creator of highways around New York City in the middle of the twentieth century, wiped out numerous neighborhoods with his projects, turning vibrant communities (notably the South Bronx) into wastelands that have yet to recover. Of his actions he famously said, “In order to make an omelet, you’re got to break eggs.” In a related way, the same roads that carry medicine also hasten the spread of deadly disease; the same roads that bring outside connections and knowledge to people starving for them sometimes spell the end of indigenous cultures; the same roads that help develop the human economy open the way for destruction of the non-human environment; the same roads that carry cars symbolizing personal freedom are the setting for the deaths of more people than die in wars, and of untold numbers of animals; and the same roads that introduce us to friends also provide access to enemies.
Roads provide us all a metaphor into lots of issues that we have concerns about - - Where are they taking us? Where will we end up?
He writes:
Every road is a story of striving: for profit, for victory in battle, for discovery and adventure, for survival and growth, or simply for livability. Each path reflects our desire to move and connect. Anyone who has benefited from a better road - - a shorter route, a smoother and safer drive - - can testify to the importance of good roads. But when humans strive, we also err, and it is hard to build without destroying. Robert Moses, the controversial creator of highways around New York City in the middle of the twentieth century, wiped out numerous neighborhoods with his projects, turning vibrant communities (notably the South Bronx) into wastelands that have yet to recover. Of his actions he famously said, “In order to make an omelet, you’re got to break eggs.” In a related way, the same roads that carry medicine also hasten the spread of deadly disease; the same roads that bring outside connections and knowledge to people starving for them sometimes spell the end of indigenous cultures; the same roads that help develop the human economy open the way for destruction of the non-human environment; the same roads that carry cars symbolizing personal freedom are the setting for the deaths of more people than die in wars, and of untold numbers of animals; and the same roads that introduce us to friends also provide access to enemies.
Roads provide us all a metaphor into lots of issues that we have concerns about - - Where are they taking us? Where will we end up?
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