Social shaping of technology
Monday, September 15th, 2008The case study article, Thirty Years of Trends in Transit-Oriented Development across America by John Luciano Renne was presented at the Transit Oriented Development – Making it Happen, Fremantle WA (July 2005). It is based and expands on a national study conducted by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP); it was released in 2004 and looked at transit oriented development (TOD ) across the United States. The case study examines the trends of travel behaviour and vehicle ownership from the year 1970 to 2000 in 103 TODs located in twelve regions across the United States (Renne 2005). The case outlines the benefits of TODs and how it helps our society by using public transport, walking, cycling and reducing the number of vehicles used. The aim of this examination is to analyse various theories in understanding technology. The three main theories are the instrumentalist theory, the determinist theory and the social practice theory (Davison 2004). (more…)