"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.
An illustration of the change in car sizes over the decades. (Ironically, at first I was so focused on the Cadillac that I didn't even notice the juxtaposition.)
posted by Richard Layman @ 11:41 AM&Permanent Link
I am an urban/commercial district revitalization and transportation/mobility advocate and consultant. I was a principal in BicyclePASS, a bicycle facilities systems integration firm, based in Washington, DC. Now I'm in Salt Lake City for family reasons. Urban economic competitiveness is dependent on efficient transit and mixed use, compact places. Therefore, I end up writing a lot about mobility and urban design. I still own a house in DC, so I write a lot about Washington, DC issues. I try to write so that "universal lessons" are evident in the entries, regardless of the place.
Jane's (Jacobs) Walks, first weekend in May
Parking Day, 3rd Friday in September
Western Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan
Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Legislation
Cambridge, Maryland Commercial District Revitalization Framework Plan
Easy print Florida Market Directory
Florida Market Map & Directory
Urban Safeway Design Misses Mark op-ed, WBJ
Temper Walmart Glee with Planning op-ed, WBJ
ANC4B Large Tract Review Report on Walmart, 5/2011
ANC4B Large Tract Review Report on Walmart, Summary Recommendations
Bordercross Communications (Corinna Moebius)
This is None: Storytelling by Design
Capital City Market (w/Frozen Tropics)
Dr. Transit/League of Transit Doctors
6 Comments:
The first planned city of India, here is the full guide of the city Chandigarh
I am probably the only person who reads your blog and also curbside classics, but the juxtaposition of your two articles next to each other was funny:
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/the-corvair-a-love-affair-an-interview-with-ed-cole-the-father-of-the-corvair/#comment-590478
And despite your picture, the average size of american vechicles doesn't change that much. Comes out to about 180 inches plus or minus a few. You're looking at two extremes (that Caddy is probably about 210 inches long, and lord knows about the smartcar).
The bigger changes are weight and also height -- cars all have gained a lot of height. That smartcar is at the same rider height as a 1980s Jeep Cherokee for instance.
And yes, right now we're more like the 1960s -- cars are bigger. 2018 Accord is around 192 inches.
@Charlie, you're not the only one. It has been said before but the CUV/SUV trend is merely reverting back to the taller, boxier, near "2-box" form of cars of the 30's and 40's. The longer/lower/wider trend begun in the 50's is fading.
Hmm. Ed Cole. I'll have to read that one. That name is a blast from the past...
I was thinking about this in a way last week, thinking about the earliest "business books" I read. The first was probably _On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors_, the second, _In Search of Excellence_.
cf. a post you might be interested in sort of on this topic, from 2005
http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2005/03/john-delorean-rip-rocking.html
http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2005/03/new-motor-city-madman-bob-lutz-blogs.html
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wrt car sizes, you're probably right. The big boats are no more. And small cars are still pretty big length wise. A SmartCar is an outlier at 8 feet long. But the mid range is still big enough. Still those old Tennysons, etc. The Olds 98? Those lengths are no more.
Thanks for that link. Interesting. When Ed Cole died he had gotten control of the company in Kalamazoo that made Checker Cars, and they were going to do a new version. They basically tanked after he died... (that's what comes from reading business sections of newspapers for decades).
His son David ran the UM Center for Automotive Research for many years. (I think the unit spun off from the University.)
Someone had a Corvair on Capitol Hill and parked it on the street. It was somewhat threadbare. Haven't noticed it out there for awhile though.
My (late) father had (I think it's still in my mother's garage) a 1966 Lincoln Continental convertible, with suicide doors and all. He let me drive it a couple of times, and, man, did that feel like a boat (the loose steering box didn't help). But, I just checked on the size of a 1998 Town Car, which was only 5 inches shorter and 1 inch narrower (the 66 Continental came in at 220 inches long). Yet by 2007 the big sedans were shorter but decidedly taller (my wife's Ford Five Hundred is 200 inches long but 5-6 inches taller than the Town Car). You can fit a crazy amount of stuff in that Ford 500.
Coming back to parking large cars, my father could park Town Cars and Crown Vics in spaces where it looked like it needed to be placed with a forklift. No idea how he did that.
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