Focus
of Research
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Dimensions
of Inquiry
and
Focus
of Research
Material
Culture and Automotive Design
Product
Design
Environmental Design
Art, Industry, and Modernity
The
process of design involves the intersection of ideals and practice, aesthetics
and functionality, art and science. The spatial manipulation of material
and the material embodiment of artistic ideals intersect in the design
process. By attending to the way that the automobile design process takes
place we can better understand the creative process in fields as diverse
as abstract sculpture and functional manufacturing systems.
Recently an additional factor - the environment - has created the need
to re-think the design process with an eye toward both mitigating negative
environmental impacts and recycling industrial and manufacturing by-products
back into the production process. Together with the UM-Dearborn Environmental
Interpretive Center, the Center for the Study of Automotive Heritage
affords further opportunity to investigate the relationship between industrial
design and the environment.
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Economic
and Social History of Automobile Production
Technology
Studies
Labor-Management Relations
Social and Economic Development
Automobile
production is a complex process that can be analyzed and understood broadly
in terms of technology, economy, race and gender relations, and politics.
The history of automobile production is marked by technological innovation
and inventions that have been applied and adapted throughout the manufacturing
and service sectors of the world economy. From high-volume assembly line
production to just-in-time distribution networks and supplier chains to
large-scale corporate mergers of company brand images and vehicle lines,
the auto industry has played a central role in advancing the production
and organizational frontier of industrial development. Similarly, the
current institutional relationship between labor and management bears
the stamp of past conflict and cooperation that began in the auto industry.
Grievance procedures, cost-of-living adjustments and other features of
modern industrial life were pioneered in the auto industry. Finally, the
shape of our cities and the pattern of urban growth and decline has been
determined by the location of automobile plants and the highways developed
to extend the scope of commercial and personal transportation.
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Social
History of Consumption and Marketing
Sales
Organization
Market Research
Advertising
Consumer Behavior
A
distinctive history of advertising can be developed by simply examining
the ways in which the automobile has been marketed in the U.S. and throughout
the world. Automobiles are means of transport but they are also durable
goods that become part of our family - they often become our inanimate
family pets. In such ways the automobile transcends its role as a means
of traveling through space. It transports us in other ways as well. Sales
and marketing efforts have both captured and embellished upon the role
the automobile plays in helping us to craft our personal identity. The
automobile has generated numerous cultural referents in song, art, architecture,
literature and in the everyday aspects of our life. For example, the motel
and the drive-thru are taken-for-granted cultural artifacts and icons
that owe their particular shape and form to the automobile. With the establishment
of the Automotive National Heritage Area, historic automotive-related
sites in southeastern Michigan are being restored and refurbished, re-interpreted
and re-envisioned. The Center for the Study of Automotive Heritage will
contribute to these recent efforts.
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The
Automobile and Global Processes
In
addition, the design, production, marketing and consumption of the automobile
has always taken place within a multinational and global context. Therefore,
attention to the global scope of the automobile is a theme common to all
three dimensions of inquiry. The spatial location of the automotive industry
is but one focus of the globalization process. Economies of scale in auto
production have are also linked to the need to globalize consumer markets.
The interplay between local and regional culture, environment, and politics,
on the one hand, and global production imperatives on the other is yet
another area for study at the Center. With the help of interactive technology
we plan to initiate discussions about the international history of auto
design, production, labor relations, marketing, and consumption.
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Updated
February 17, 2004
contact us Autoheritage@umd.umich.edu
site
maintained by W. Michael
Photo
Credits: Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection |
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