ABSTRACT

Chapter 9: Vehicles as a Microcosm of Approaching Built Environment Rehabilitation expands our analysis of the stationary built environment to also include the moveable components of it. The chapter takes Carl Elefante’s (2012, 62) renowned claim that “the greenest building is [the] one that is already built”, especially when we consider the inherent environmental value of buildings in respect to their embodied energy and materials, and applies this concept to other large material objects: motor vehicles. These artifacts have both made a significant impact on the built environment and environmental quality. While we concede from an ecological perspective that the world might be better off without the use of petroleum-dependent internal combustion engines, we do not see that reality occurring anytime in the near future. So, in the meantime, we need to navigate how we can drive our way to a more ecologically sound future. Heritage preservation must play a role in this process as well. We cannot ignore how much of our global economy, landscape, built environment, culture, and way of life across the globe have been affected by the automobile and other forms of transportation. Moreover, the solutions to the environmental issue regarding transportation of people and goods cannot be simple quick fixes, such as trading in all conventional automobiles for hybrids. Raising the issues, more than offering solutions to this complex set of issues regarding the cultural and environmental impact of transportation infrastructure, is the aim of this chapter.