The City After the Automobile: An Architect's Vision

Colin Millette is a planner and rural development specialist in Guelph,
Ontario.

The City After the Automobile examines the evolution and purpose of
cities, and their implications for transportation. Following discussions
of patterns of dispersed land use and of the planning of cities based on
modes of transportation, the authors address the issue of dispersed
suburban mall development as an alternative to city centres. Safdie and
Kohn liken the private-sector mall developer to a casino developer whose
idea of environmental quality differs from what we would generally
expect of public spaces. For example, daylight is said to interfere with
a mall’s “commercial drama [because] continuity with the surrounding
city invites people not intending to spend money.”

The authors go on to propose a comprehensive plan for restructuring
transportation systems. One of its main objectives is to manage high-
and low-density lifestyles without compromising the quality of life,
availability of agricultural land, and existing natural features. Safdie
and Kohn see the transformation of the car as the primary means of
restructuring the transportation system and, ultimately, the city. They
propose utility cars (U-cars) as replacements for current automobiles.
These cars would conform to a universal technical standard, would be
leased for a specified period of time, and would be parked at depots
readily available throughout the city.

How the U-car translates into a regional development plan that balances
high-density city grown with low-density city growth is not clearly
articulated. The authors’ vision of the city is clear, but the means
to get there remains ambiguous. Their book nevertheless sheds much light
on how planning, location, and architecture reveal the forms and
functions of our cities.