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Gendering Mobility: Women, Work and
Automobility in the United States
MARGARET WALSH
History
Volume 93 Issue 311, Pages 376 - 395
Published Online: 28 Jun 2008
ABSTRACT
This article examines women's relationship with car driving in the United States. The growth of American 'automobility' increased throughout the twentieth century, but most historians have ignored its relationship with women. They have assumed that the motor car was a masculine vehicle in terms of both its technology and use. Even those who recognized the motor car as a machine for changing lifestyles and interpersonal relationships considered that the male head of household had authority over choosing and driving the family vehicle. Some women, however, always drove. Though their numbers were relatively small in the years before the Second World War, they quickly seized the opportunity to get behind the wheel in succeeding years as more and more cars were produced in the United States and imported vehicles became popular. Women needed to drive to manage their unpaid work in the home efficiently and, when they entered the paid labour force in increasing numbers, they needed to run their households and to travel to their paid work. By the end of the twentieth century American women were as likely to drive as their male counterparts, though their patterns of driving were different. In the process, the automobile had become a sex neutral vehicle.
The sustainable mobility paradigm
David Banister
Transport Policy
Volume 15, Issue 2, March 2008, Pages 73-80
New Developments in Urban Transportation Planning
Abstract
This paper has two main parts. The first questions two of the underlying principles of conventional transport planning on travel as a derived demand and on travel cost minimisation. It suggests that the existing paradigm ought to be more flexible, particularly if the sustainable mobility agenda is to become a reality. The second part argues that policy measures are available to improve urban sustainability in transport terms but that the main challenges relate to the necessary conditions for change. These conditions are dependent upon high-quality implementation of innovative schemes, and the need to gain public confidence and acceptability to support these measures through active involvement and action. Seven key elements of sustainable mobility are outlined, so that public acceptability can be more effectively promoted.
Abstract
The derived nature of transportation demand implies that enhancement of mobility per se is not a reasonable goal for transportation policy; instead, improved mobility is desired to the extent that it furthers accessibility—a goal that can be achieved through a variety of measures. The paper uses the mobility–accessibility distinction to distinguish different implementations of congestion pricing. A mobility-based congestion pricing promises to alleviate congestion but threatens to deteriorate from overall regional accessibility as it accelerates metropolitan deconcentration. In contrast, accessibility-based congestion pricing avoids acceleration of sprawl by incorporating policies to ensure that drivers tolled off roads are replaced with residents and travelers arriving at previously congested areas by other means.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HE193 .V54 2002
Karen Chapple. American Planning Association. Journal of the American Planning Association. Chicago: Summer 2006.Vol.72, Iss. 3; pg. 322, 15 pgs
Abstract (Document Summary)
Since the 1960s, John Kain's theory of spatial mismatch has influenced policy responses to the poor employment prospects of low-income and minority residents of inner cities by aiming to connect them with suburban jobs. My literature review examines this policy legacy using what we now know about disadvantaged jobseekers' employment searches. Recent evaluations of poverty deconcentration and employment accessibility programs show that these programs have failed to improve employment outcomes significantly. However, using evidence from studies of job search and job training programs, I show that local activity patterns do shape employment chances. Planners trying to improve employment outcomes for the disadvantaged should focus on policies that will provide them with opportunities to interact with a diverse social network and meet workforce intermediaries capable of linking them with jobs.
---Jonathan Levine
Concentrations
land use and environmental planning
physical planning and urban design
housing community and economic development
transportation planning
planning in developing countries
Abstract-
The derived nature of transportation demand implies that enhancement of mobility per se is not a reasonable goal for transportation policy; instead, improved mobility is desired to the extent that it furthers accessibility-a goal that can be achieved through a variety of measures. The paper uses the mobility-accessibility distinction to distinguish different implementations of congestion pricing. A mobility-based congestion pricing promises to alleviate congestion but threatens to deteriorate from overall regional accessibility as it accelerates metropolitan deconcentration. In contrast, accessibility-based congestion pricing avoids acceleration of sprawl by incorporating policies to ensure that drivers tolled off roads are replaced with residents and travelers arriving at previously congested areas by other means.