PhD project
The subproject examines the accommodation of parked cars in Western European cities since the breakthrough of mass motorization in the 1950s. Drawing on case studies from the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain, the study analyzes how political actors, local authorities, technical experts, and civil society actors negotiated the accommodation and organization of parked vehicles and which infrastructural, legal, and regulatory measures resulted from these negotiations. In particular, the project asks how mass motorization and the associated space requirements of parked vehicles have shaped local life worlds, everyday practices and spatial conflicts. By looking at the history of parking, the study thus examines the relationship between the production of urban space and the emergence of an energy-, resource-, and land-intensive lifestyle during the „Great Acceleration “. The project aims to connect approaches from the history of mobility and infrastructure with the broader perspectives of environmental history, urban history, and the history of everyday life.
