The Beginnings of Contemporary Transport and Mobility

The history of transport and mobility runs parallel to the evolution of societies. The journey starts with the invention of the wheel to reach, after thousands of years, the first relevant milestone in the 19th century with the beginning of the railway. Not coincidentally, the telegraph followed a parallel path and started the era of mass communication. We did not have to wait so long to witness the appearance of the most widely used means of transport in the world and, arguably, the most referred to mobility token in communication: the car. Some years later, radio collapsed space and enabled instantaneous mass communication. The dynamic between society and the mass media that is so prevalent today has started to develop. Brand advertising became fuel for the mass media, which turned into huge pieces of machinery for cultural production.

Car marketing found the perfect loudspeaker and publicity became bright and impressionistic, depicting idealized scenes directed at the wealthy classes. Before World War II, air travel was rare, but the people and the press were nonetheless fascinated by it. The start of modernity was characterised by the democratisation of means of transport, mostly through the proliferation of the automobile which became a status symbol as well. Popular culture was boosted thanks to television and its appeal to the masses; the ‘culture industry’ began to dominate the cultural scene. A ‘mass society’ began to share mass pleasures, like cheap mass travel and tourism. Homogeneity in society was accelerated by cinema, radio, and television, offering attractive role models from America to European citizens.