Living in a culture that celebrates the elimination of barriers, we have become accustomed to technologies that promise us a higher quality of life. The railroads of the 19th century and the motorways of the 20th century are familiar examples of technological, political and economic projects that nowadays are taken for granted.

We may be disturbed by car pollution and airplane noise, but we do not usually question the infrastructure of mobility. No, we seldom question the drive for convenience and immediacy, for higher and higher speeds, for less and less friction. Commuting and long-distance travelling have become integrated aspects of our daily life, permeating our minds and value systems. Speed and mobility have long been terms with positive connotations, paving the way for projects of political and economic “improvements”. How should we otherwise understand the emergence of urban, interurban, regional, interregional, national and international infrastructure projects? What are we without cars, trains and airplanes?

Historical mistakes are not a good excuse for not doing anything today or tomorrow. So, what should we do? Why not begin by asking how we really want to live, how we really want to work, how we really want to use our common habitat. Let us imagine a world guided by slow mobility.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 4:50 am and is filed under Technology, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.