week 3

Lately we’ve been discussing how design (artifacts) are important to society and the governance they have. In one of the readings, “Do Artifacts Have Politics,” it states that artifacts are influential in two different ways. One way that artifacts can be political and influential is the way they were designed, structured, and how and where they were built, and whether they were designed based on issues in the community. The other way artifacts can be political is whether or not they were built in order to grant certain people political power and authority. The latter of the two has sadly happened, and will continue to happen, time and time again. One particular example we discussed extensively in class was the bridge situation in the 1950s. In the 1950s, the wealthy people wanted a bridge built in order to gain access into their city. However this bridge was to have specific guidelines, including that it would not be tall enough to fit a bus underneath it. Now why wouldn’t they want buses to be able to access the bridge? To keep the poor people out! That’s why! Just like today, back then the poorer people didn’t own cars. Instead they rode public transportation, the bus. The wealthy people realized this and did not want them accessing their rich city. It sickens me that something this blatantly racist and snobbish could occur.
A current design (artifact) that has a huge impact on Phoenix and Arizona in general is the newly designed light rail. In tough economic times, it provides thousands or people transportation to work and school, traveling all the way from Mesa through Phoenix. Besides providing cheaper transportation, the light rail was also created in an effort to go Green, or environmentally friendly. With Arizona being so polluted, Phoenix the most, a public transportation system definitely needed to be created in order to cut back on car pollutants and encourage people to take alternative methods of transportation. The lightrail, while extremely expensive, has certainly proven that it’s up to the task. With its sleek design and comfortable, quick ride it is quickly becoming a favorite for people who are conscientious of the environment and going green, or maybe they’re just conscientious about their wallets. Either way it’s proven a success so far in its early stages. However that does not mean there aren’t any concerns regarding the light rail. Some people argue that it does not cover as large of an area as needed. I must concur with this argument as while it does cover some main places, Mesa, ASU, and Central Phoenix, it also pretty much just runs in a straight line and skips out on many other vital places. Some people just simply don’t want to take it because they’d have to jump on another bus anyways if they were to rely on it. All in all however, I do believe the light rail is a great thing for Arizona and hope they continue to expand it.