Seen, read, heard from the file

Having worked for Renault for a long time, Laurent Castaignède, an engineer, knows from the inside the techniques used by the automobile industry to promote the myth of clean transport to the public, the development of which is supposed to contribute to the fight against pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The lessons he learned from this experience run counter to the doxa of his former employer. In a previous essay (La bougeotte, nouveau mal du siècle), he criticizes the contemporary myth of speed and restlessness, which have become a symbol of individual freedom in our collective imagination. Airvore is a complete and rigorous study of the evolution of motorized means of transport, their uses and the efforts made to limit their nuisances, since their appearance, which also marks the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This was characterized from the outset by an explosion in mobility. Each era has seen its urbanism shaped by transportation networks; the rise of the railroad …