Sunday, February 12, 2012

Modern Transit series

"Science on the March", Popular Mechanics (January 1952).
Illustrated by A. Leydenfrost.

Cincinnati is not one to shy away from, at the very least, thinking about ways to improve city life, draw interest in it's surroundings, and ultimately push our sprawling metropolis into the front seat of a shiny new ultra-modern urban utopia.  (That would be the goal, I would hope.)

While most of these futuristic prognostications have been lit through decades of re-evaluating our bricks and mortar, local transit has shadowed this infatuation by nearly the same level.  And it's no surprise since, by foot, ship, rail, horse, or carriage, Cincinnati has historically been a city open to embrace new forms of transportation.

Geared for constant change, though admittedly, not always following through.

Nevertheless, the philosophical transmutation of current modes of living into something idealized is commonplace in the history of society - aka Optimistic Futurism (a noble tenet to live by, in my opinion) - and it is constantly seen in the minds, and occasionally the works, of our local culture as well.  Thus, it will be reflected again here, through a new series upcoming on Cincinnati Revisited:

Modern Transit: Far-reaching conceptualizations for local travel.

4 comments:

Ronny Salerno said...

Excited to read this series. Will you be covering the PRT idea that came about in the early 2000's?

Matt said...

Thanks! Yes, definitely PRT, among a few others you may or may not have heard of.

Ronny Salerno said...

Excellent. I remember reading a report somewhere about monorails and if you need any photos of the Jungle Jims one, I can hook you up.

When will the series start?

Matt said...

Absolutely - anything you could send over would be helpful.

Here's my email:
matthunterross@gmail.com

Series will start tomorrow. The PRT/Monorail things will come later.

Thanks!