Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
I'm going to say transport evolved around society.

The USA was founded on individual transport. Families set off all on their own, or maybe with small groups of a few other families, each in their own wagon, to settle on isolated homesteads from which they'd need individual transport to have any contact (social or business) with other human beings.

Our means of transport may have gotten much faster and dirtier, but the idea that we all need individual transport has been stable over the centuries, I think.

From what I've seen of Italy and the Netherlands, they simply have a more collectivist way of going about things, transport included. Farmers seem to live in small villages, of which there are many, and travel a short distance to work their land. An arrangement that's probably been in place since feudal times. Other than that, people simply don't have the idea in their heads that they need individual transport for every journey.

Other countries, I have no idea.

I don't think the Amish are a good example (because their transport is dictated by church dogma, not by "evolution"), but even so, the reason they rely on horse and buggy is specifically to keep the communities united - to make it difficult for people to travel and interact outside of the sphere in which they themselves are directly affected - so that would be another example of transport being dictated by society and not the other way around.
I'm not really sure that the Amish use horses for transportation to keep their community people isolated. It is more of a choice, i.e. like buying locally grown food, and living a simple life and riding a bike rather than a car. The choice is not driven by technological advances. Not such a bad choice in many ways.

But, I do agree that this is an example of society driving transportation choice. I think this is sort of a chicken before the egg concept. Transportation is first chosen by society or driven by technological advances. However, then you have the reverse reaction of a certain choice causing a society to grow in a certain way; so then the choice drives a change in the society, i.e. for instance, the development of the suburbs in America.

spoke