Who Owns the Street? Urban Automobility and Social Conflicts in Washington, DC and São Paulo, 1910-1940

• Applicant: Dr. Mario Peters
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569937966

This book project explores the history of urban mobility in the United States and Brazil in the early twentieth century. Focusing on Washington, DC, and São Paulo from 1910 to 1940, I examine the conflicts that emerged with the growth of automobility from comparative and transnational perspectives. At the time, the facilitation of motorized traffic eliminated traditional functions of the street and minimized the potential for alternative forms of movement, particularly walking. To understand how and why that happened, I first explore how auto aficionados in both countries worked to establish car-friendly urban environments and cooperated with each other on an international level. Second, I examine contemporary debates about traffic safety and the question of what streets were for, and I explore how people who were not in cars reacted to the dangers and displacement that came with increasing car traffic. I intend to carry out the project at the German Historical Institute Washington, which is located just miles from important archives and libraries. So far, the project’s topic has received little attention from historians in either the United States or Brazil. Most importantly, there are no comparative or transnational studies on early-twentieth-century traffic conflicts in the Americas. I seek to advance historical scholarship on urban mobility by exploring different and often conflicting ideas about who had the right to use the street and how people should move around the city. Based on the analysis of official documents, police files, newspapers, auto magazines, expert studies, maps, and photos, I examine how city administrations, the police, pedestrians, the press, automobile clubs and the auto industry, and traffic experts positioned themselves in conflicts over street use and traffic safety. Washington, DC, and São Paulo are excellent case studies for a transnational and comparative examination of early automobility and urban traffic conflicts: both cities were important venues of cooperation between US-American and Brazilian auto enthusiasts; already by the 1920s both cities had high car ownership rates and had gained a reputation as car-friendly cities. At the same time, in both Washington, DC, and São Paulo many people opposed the car’s increasing occupation and domination of public space. In the period under study, 1910-1940, it was by no means obvious what the future of urban traffic would look like. Contrary to the still common belief that the victory of the automobile was inevitable, I contend that motorization met fierce criticism and resistance from people who claimed their right to safe streets. At the same time, I uncover the historical origins of a firmly established auto dependency that has shaped urban spaces in the Americas and carries on into our time.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants