ABSTRACT
When we built the interstate highway system, we celebrated the possibilities. This national transportation network would facilitate commerce, promote defense, and better the welfare of all Americans. But in the planning, we did not seriously explore what the concrete network would do to community life. 1 When television rolled out in the 1940s and 50s, we again celebrated the possibilities. And again, we failed to see how television would become a “vast wasteland,” 2 serving up stock images folded into agreeable entertainment and sensational news.
