Automobiles let urbanites move through public space while avoiding it

Evidence

The automobile has a particularly interesting and significant characteristic: it allows its passengers to move through the public sectors of the city encased in a cocoon of private space. It makes it possible for one to encounter the city at the same time one is avoiding it. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 801

Categorization

• XREF: Directly echoes the reader’s interest: this is a mechanical extension of civil inattention, a physical cocoon that weaponizes detachment from the street. — connects to: One commuter’s long drive depresses civic life even for noncommuting neighbors — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 718