The New Surface: Street as a Contested Field Condition

Abstract

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies are fundamentally altering the operational logic of streets, disrupting established urban patterns. This thesis examines the spatial consequences of automation on the street as a complex field condition—where movement systems, regulations, and urban form intersect and compete. Through critical examination of historical urban visions proposed in response to transportation revolutions—from the automobile’s emergence to the proliferation of highway infrastructures—the research reveals patterns of adaptation to changing mobility systems. Building on this historical analysis, the thesis explores how AVs will prescribe new spatial logics and politics on streets. Rather than accepting this impending mobility shift as technological inevitability to which cities merely react, the thesis reframes it as a contingent process that can transform in response to urban design desires. The work concludes with speculative urban scenarios that project AVs’ continued influence, suggesting design interventions that reimagine streets as contested urban conditions—where boundaries between infrastructure, public space, and technology are continuously renegotiated.