Perpetual Motion Introduction

Mobility has always been the crux of where and how we live. Our cities, town, suburbs-even our houses-are largely the way they are because of transportation's demands on the environment. Given Dwell's interest in looking at domestic life through the lens of design, it seems fitting that we should explore the past, present, and future of transportation in the United States-country whose very existence and evolving fabric is based on its citizens' innate desire to keep on moving.

To tackle such a mammoth undertaking, we enlisted the help of intrepid adventurer and award-winning author Robert Sullivan. Amicably accepting the assignment, Sullivan agreed that the field research should be conducted in four parts-East, Midwest, West, and Southwest.