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As our society continues pushing into the future, the adverse effects of the use of the motor vehicle are becoming consistently more evident. Around 60 years ago, in the years after WWII, the world saw a surge of construction of large scale transportation infrastructure: highways and motorways. As the personal automobile became cheaper, more readily produced and available to a large portion of the population, City leaders saw the automobile as the future and the motorway the way to get there.
In 2012 the negative effects of this thought process are now becoming an issue that Urban Designers must learn to deal with. Aside from creating unsustainable communities and habilitating suburban / car- dependent development, the effect of a motorway on the typical Urban Fabric is often detrimental to the City.
By using Glasgow’s M8 motorway as a foundation, we are able to learn and develop critical Urban Design skills, vis-à-vis a realistic understanding of large scale transportation infrastructure and its impact on the City, a concept which we will undoubtedly face in our future as Urban Designers.