Concept

Effects of the car on societies

Since the start of the twentieth century, the role of cars has become highly important, though controversial. They are used throughout the world and have become the most popular mode of transport in many of the more developed countries. In developing countries, the effects of the car on society are not as visible, however they are nonetheless significant. The development of the car built upon the transport sector first started by railways. This has introduced sweeping changes in employment patterns, social interactions, infrastructure and the distribution of goods. Despite the positive effects on access to remote places and mobility, comfort provided by the automobile, allowing people to geographically increase their social and economic interactions, the negative effects of the car on everyday life are significant. Although the introduction of the mass-produced car represented a revolution in industry and convenience, creating job demand and tax revenue, the high motorisation rates also brought severe consequences to the society and to the environment. The modern negative associations with heavy automotive use include the use of non-renewable fuels, a dramatic increase in the rate of accidental death, the disconnection of local community, the decrease of local economy, the rise in cardiovascular diseases, the emission of air and noise pollution, the emission of greenhouse gases, generation of urban sprawl and traffic, segregation of pedestrians and other active mobility means of transport, decrease in the railway network, urban decay and the high cost per unit-distance on which the car paradigm is based. In the early 20th century, cars entered mass production. The United States produced 45,000 cars in 1907, but 28 years later, in 1935, that had increased nearly 90-fold to 3,971,000. The increase in production required a large new workforce. In 1913, 14,366 people worked for the Ford Motor Company, and by 1916 that had increased to 132,702.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related courses (5)
AR-302(ag): Studio BA6 (Fröhlich M. & A.)
Qu'est-ce qu'une serre sans le végétal ? Ou un jardin d'hiver sans l'hiver ? Dans le cadre de la série « Tackle The Type », le studio étudiera les serres d'un point de vue typologique et explorera l'a
AR-402(ag): Studio MA2 (Fröhlich M. & A.)
Qu'est-ce qu'une serre sans le végétal ? Ou un jardin d'hiver sans l'hiver ? Dans le cadre de la série « Tackle The Type », le studio étudiera les serres d'un point de vue typologique et explorera l'a
HUM-124(b): Global issues: mobility B
Human and freight mobility in large cities is a complex process with dense population and many transport modes to compete for limited space. New emerging modes of transport, such as on-demand services
Show more
Related lectures (18)
Technical Progress and Societal Impacts
Explores technical progress, societal impacts, and the challenges of electrification in various sectors.
Material and Energy Balances
Explores material and energy balances in chemical engineering for process optimization and design.
Kaya Decomposition: CO2 Emissions Analysis
Explores the Kaya decomposition method to analyze CO2 emissions and its implications.
Show more
Related publications (32)

Geometric and Learning Methods for Robots to Navigate in Human Crowds with Application to Smart Mobility Devices

David Julian Gonon

The thesis at hand is concerned with robots' navigation in human crowds. Specifically, methods are developed for planning a mobile robot's local motion between pedestrians, and they are evaluated in experiments where a robot interacts with real pedestrians ...
EPFL2023

Space allocation for multi-modal urban networks with ridesplitting services and public transport

Nikolaos Geroliminis, Lynn Fayed

The surge of Mobility on Demand (MoD) is largely attributed to advancements in mobile internet and technology. Ridesourcing platforms, among other solution services, offer convenience and flexibility when it comes to pick-up/drop-off time and location, all ...
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine2022

(Un)clear boundaries between TD practices and professional consultancy – the case of the TD research project Co-Creating Mobility Hubs

Integrated site developments and mobility solutions contribute to the careful use of scarce land resources and create livable urban space. Specifically, the future development of railway stations into intermodal mobility hubs could improve the interface be ...
2021
Show more
Related concepts (22)
Car
A car, or an automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people, not cargo. French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while French-born-Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion powered automobile in 1808. The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen.
Diner
A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a combination of booths served by a waitstaff and a long sit-down counter with direct service, in the smallest simply by a cook. Many diners have extended hours, and some along highways and areas with significant shift work stay open for 24 hours.
Transport economics
Transport economics is a branch of economics founded in 1959 by American economist John R. Meyer that deals with the allocation of resources within the transport sector. It has strong links to civil engineering. Transport economics differs from some other branches of economics in that the assumption of a spaceless, instantaneous economy does not hold. People and goods flow over networks at certain speeds. Demands peak. Advance ticket purchase is often induced by lower fares. The networks themselves may or may not be competitive.
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.