The Twilight of Autopia

Gabrielle Esperdy

The energy crisis of the early 1970s destabilized U.S. society. The nation’s first-ever peacetime gasoline shortages produced more than fuel rationing and panic at the pump — they seemed to foretell the end of America’s auto-centric culture and oil-dependent politics. But back then we ignored the warnings.

The energy crisis of the 1970s destabilized American society and seemed to foretell the end of our auto-centric culture and oil-dependent politics. Back then we ignored the warnings.

Read

Galleries

Columnists

  • Belmont Freeman
  • Sandy Isenstadt
  • Alan Thomas

David Heymann

David Heymann is a columnist for Places. He is an architect, and the Harwell Hamilton Harris Regents Professor in Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin.

Recent Articles

Belmont Freeman

Belmont Freeman is a columnist for Places. He is principal of Belmont Freeman Architects, an award-winning design firm in New York City.

Recent Articles

Sandy Isenstadt

Sandy Isenstadt is a professor of architectural history at the University of Delaware, and a columnist for Places.

Recent Articles

Alan Thomas

Alan Thomas is a columnist for Places. He is Editorial Director for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Chicago Press and a photographer specializing in urban landscape.

Recent Articles

Series

Future Archive

Future Archive features the online republication of significant works of 20th-century design criticism and history.

 Read