Research findings

Each vehicle and city era shows evidence of high input of design in both the vehicle, the city and semiotics, this is an aesthetic response. The evolutionary pace if vehicles is faster and associated with commercial marketing requirements. Infrastructure evolution is slower, as costs of changing reflect limitations of public investment. This partial evolution demonstrates incremental change rather than a designed future. This requires research in relation to Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis.

The drawings explore in visual form (anti-clockwise) for four fields as visual tools: planning, architecture, vehicle design and autonomous vehicle literature. The consistency of drawings (as opposed to historic photograph or maps etc) make this a personal exploration of the development of the vehicle and the city in the specified fields.  

The taxonomy research started out as a photographic composition of approximately 100 photographs and historic records. Using photographic historic records and observations of these records to communicate ideas around evolution of city vehicles and communications (including cultural literature on AV) were the initial steps into developing an understanding of the linear chronology. The photographic essay evolved into drawings to understand meanings by stripping away the complexity of the camera and photographers’ agency. I made careful selections of categories for the composition of drawings, based on universally recognisable elements to compose the visual taxonomy which was then concerted to a drawing composition. 

I became keenly aware of the aesthetic consequences of the evolutionary qualities of each era and importantly, how this could be consistently represented through the taxonomy. Through drawing I became acutely conscious of the hidden dimension of time and the way slow, progressive, incremental change obscured significant impacts of the vehicles and the city.

Discussion

Participants at the symposium found the taxonomical research relevant to the subject in understanding the evolution of vehicles and the city. There was extended discussion and agreement about the analysis of the interaction of vehicles (refer to Figure 8), the city and actors in the public realm (refer to Figure 9).