Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, pneumatic tube-based transport has been depicted as a ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ infrastructure for the transport of both people and goods; it has been represented as a possible solution to help reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and carbon-dioxide...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The White Horse Press
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Global Environment |
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| Online Access: | https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10.3828/whpge.63837646622512 |
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| author | Laura Meneghello |
| author_facet | Laura Meneghello |
| author_sort | Laura Meneghello |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, pneumatic tube-based transport has been depicted as a ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ infrastructure for the transport of both people and goods; it has been represented as a possible solution to help reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and carbon-dioxide emissions and as an alternative to heavy transport. In fact, air pollution occupies a crucial position in the hierarchy of urban problems. The article analyses sustainability discourses related with nineteenth-century atmospheric railways and similar air-driven transport solutions up to the present day, showing how techno-scientific plans and utopian representations put forward the idea that environmental problems could be solved through technology. In particular, in the twenty-first century, Hyperloop has been presented as an answer to climate and environmental crises, whereas contemporary discourses of clean transport tend to reproduce nineteenth-century discourses on the purity of air granted by the atmospheric railway. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bbadadbcbff7432082f4b9423766d8a3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1973-3739 2053-7352 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | The White Horse Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-bbadadbcbff7432082f4b9423766d8a32025-02-05T19:51:04ZengThe White Horse PressGlobal Environment1973-37392053-73522025-02-01181467610.3828/whpge.63837646622512GE180103Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first CenturyLaura Meneghello0University of SiegenSince the beginning of the twenty-first century, pneumatic tube-based transport has been depicted as a ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ infrastructure for the transport of both people and goods; it has been represented as a possible solution to help reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and carbon-dioxide emissions and as an alternative to heavy transport. In fact, air pollution occupies a crucial position in the hierarchy of urban problems. The article analyses sustainability discourses related with nineteenth-century atmospheric railways and similar air-driven transport solutions up to the present day, showing how techno-scientific plans and utopian representations put forward the idea that environmental problems could be solved through technology. In particular, in the twenty-first century, Hyperloop has been presented as an answer to climate and environmental crises, whereas contemporary discourses of clean transport tend to reproduce nineteenth-century discourses on the purity of air granted by the atmospheric railway.https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10.3828/whpge.63837646622512sustainabilityinfrastructureatmospheric railwayhyperlooppneumatic transport |
| spellingShingle | Laura Meneghello Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century Global Environment sustainability infrastructure atmospheric railway hyperloop pneumatic transport |
| title | Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century |
| title_full | Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century |
| title_fullStr | Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century |
| title_short | Through Infrastructure: Pneumatic Transport and the Continuity of the Technical Fix from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century |
| title_sort | through infrastructure pneumatic transport and the continuity of the technical fix from the nineteenth to the twenty first century |
| topic | sustainability infrastructure atmospheric railway hyperloop pneumatic transport |
| url | https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10.3828/whpge.63837646622512 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurameneghello throughinfrastructurepneumatictransportandthecontinuityofthetechnicalfixfromthenineteenthtothetwentyfirstcentury |