| In order to improve our dwelling on streets, this inquiry outlines the thought of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and applies it to central issues of designing for more inclusive uses of our public roads. The inquiry is guided by the question: How can we develop a free and positive relation to technology? In exploring issues of technology within the context of street design, the study employs hermeneutic, or interpretive, phenomenology which Heidegger conceived and developed. Each major phase of his thought can be marked by a concept that anchors a specific way of access to our environment: equipment; works of art (unifying cultural paradigms); things. These three route markers characterize Heidegger's thought as a searching movement into ever richer ontologies (understandings of being). Each of these vantage points reveals our public roads in different ways. Following the phenomena elucidated by Heidegger's three main ontologies, three principal street functions are explored: (1) everyday street environments as smoothly functioning equipment for moving about, (2) airports and (automated) freeways as potential works of art, and (3) streets as public spaces uniquely suited for dwelling in postmodernism's multiple local worlds. Observation and interpretation guided by phenomenological concepts provide the major kind of evidence. The inquiry suggests two main conclusions: (A) In order to fully express and facilitate the various social practices taking place on streets, architects, urban planners, and transportation engineers are advised to develop a thorough understanding of the phenomena elucidated by Heidegger's three main ontologies. (B) Our streets and highways need to function as smoothly interlocked equipment and as things focusing multiple local worlds, while preserving a status as latent works of art that may spontaneously emerge as full-fledged unifying cultural paradigms. By freely accepting a technologically advanced and flexible postmodern world where we are on the move and dwell via moving, we are more likely to design our streets not only for safe and efficient travel, but also for regaining joy and delight while moving about. Journeying is not only about “getting there.” It must also be moving. |
