Streets are inherently social constructs shaped by cultural and historical contexts. The discussion highlights how the introduction of the automobile led to a shift from streets as public social spaces to engineered infrastructures focused on traffic flow. This change has implications for mobility justice, especially as pandemic experiments with open streets demonstrate the cognitive and social benefits of car-free environments. Reflecting on the historical use of streets reveals the inequalities that have persisted in urban planning and the need for a reimagining of these spaces for equitable use.
"Streets are not just a physical space; they are actually social constructs as well. When we engineer them for traffic flow, we often take away essential social functions."
"The introduction of the automobile transformed streets from social spaces into highly engineered infrastructure, resulting in a codified rule-based system that overlooks their earlier public and social uses."
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