(Urban) Landscape: Session at the European Association for Urban History Conference: Cities in Motion 2020

How is it that motorized individual transport was able to develop so strongly in urban areas in the 19th century? What were the concrete forces behind it? Why is there no real cost truth being practiced nowadays, when we know the consequences of our mobility excess? The session will receive papers on the topics: urban mobility, stationary traffic, development of traffic legislations and alike.

The analysis of the historical development of users’ rights in the Urban context reveals the following: Legislation shifted away from an initial emphasis on protection of people and was soon rewritten to protect vehicle traffic. In Vienna in fact, the National Socialist street ordinance provided the most significant shift in the hierarchy of street users. Postwar regulations called for “care, caution, and attention” but nevertheless remained primarily fixed on the pro-tection of traffic. It was not until 1960 that the human being once again moved into the center, replacing traffic as the focus of attention. The current traffic ordinance, and with it the right to use public street space, is rooted in a system of values that privileged the ideal of a ‘Gesamtvolkssinn’ over the rights and the protection of individuals.

"If drivers don't pay for parking, who does? Everyone does, even if they don't drive. Initially the developer pays for the required parking, but soon the tenants do, and then their customers, and so on, until the cost of parking has diffused everywhere in the economy. When we shop in a store, eat in a restaurant, or see a movie, we pay for parking indirectly because its cost is in-cluded in the prices of merchandise, meals, and theater tickets. We unknowingly support our cars with almost every commercial transaction we make because a small share of the money changing hands pays for parking. Residents pay for parking through higher prices for housing. Businesses pay for parking through higher rents for their premises. Shoppers pay for parking through higher prices for everything they buy. We don't pay for parking in our role as motorists, but in all our other roles—as consumers, investors, workers, residents, and taxpayers—we pay a high price. Even people who don't own a car have to pay for "free" parking."1

  • 1. Shoup, Donald C. 2011; The High Cost of Free Parking. p.2[/fn
  • Spokesperson: Angelika  Psenner, TU Wien
  • Co-organizer(s): Nicole Kirchberger, TU Graz
  • Keywords: Motorised individual transport | Parking | Urban space
  • Time period: Modern period
  • Topic(s): Architecture and urbanism | Social
  • Study area: More than one continent