Before I would visit a city, I would always study its map, try to identify the places on my itinerary, and note the spacial references that will help me navigate the new city. Maps have always appealed to me— I would stare at them for a long time, tracing roads and thruways, wondering which dots they connect, and thinking about how the current road system have supported (or hindered) the growth of a city.  And thus, the lines on the maps—the roads— have played a significant role in my mental visualizations of the city. In my mind, I have always defined a city’s sophistication in terms of the density of its roads network— cities tend to have very dense road networks to transport the vast amount of population to its destination, while smaller towns and villages (non-cities) have simpler road networks. I am very excited to have the opportunity to study a city and its transportation infrastructure.

The Hayden reading really made me think more deeply into the issue of space, specifically the “politics of a space”— social demographics, emotional attachments, and its character. These are some very important topics that are not readily seen on common visual representations of cities, such as Google Maps,  but nonetheless important. Thinking about the “politics of spaces” in relation with the transportation infrastructure of a city, I realize their connections are very much intricate. On one hand, transportation systems foster the creations and shaping of new spaces, through making spaces accessible that were once not; however, on the other hand, certain links (such as 12-lane highways) can also act as iron wall that separates spaces that were once connected, creating rifts that are unproductive to the development of the city as a whole.

Thinking about my proposed topic in the relationship of transportation infrastructure vis-à-vis urban spaces, I realize the cities I have been living in have always been influenced by this issue— from how satellite towns emerged with the construction of new roads, to how the existence of a circular beltway bolstered a geographical notion of “inner city” that influenced real estate prices.  I feel similar patterns can be seen in Portland, Maine, as several Portland residents I talked to all raised the importance of I-295, as they referred to Portland Downtown as “everything that is inside I-295.”