On the Outskirts

Recently, we traveled through the town of Belleville, Illinois on the light rail. From our seats on the train, we saw barren corn fields and dilapidated houses surrounded by garbage. What we did not see were the antique brick houses or quirky little stores that we knew thrived in Belleville.

This particular trip reminded us of how crucial it is to consider scenery in our ongoing conversations about light rail culture. In our case, the scenery consisted of what most people would consider to be the “outskirts” of Belleville.

Every day, the light rail shapes riders’ perceptions of the various towns and cultures along the tracks. For better and worse, the outskirt views become the source of knowledge. And so for many riders, the glimpses of the towns might represent the whole of what they know about the places they pass.

For those of us who know Belleville, for example, the glimpse the light rail offers doesn't begin to reflect the town's substance. For those of us who know little of the towns on the route, we hardly know what we are missing.

Because of convenience and zoning restrictions, the light rail necessarily travels on the outskirts of the various towns it crosses. And sometimes the outskirts of towns provide viewers with visually stimulating scenes.

Yet, there's always this sense that the light rail enhances and distorts cultural perceptions of particular places. What have you noticed along your travels?

Image courtesy of EZ Journey

Travels and Transfers

When we first began a project on the light rail system of southern Illinois, we were primarily concerned with creating short artistic portraits based on our travels. The idea was to present a collection of creative reflections and speculations about people’s journeys, as we did in our “First Time Travelers” and “Naps and the Light Rail" posts, for example.

The subway section of Colson Whitehead’s The Colossus of New York was a useful model for what we were doing.

Over the course of the past few months, however, our interests have gone in slightly different directions. We continue to produce the creative reflections. But we have begun to focus more on the politics of public transportation, the crucial St. Louis County November vote, and the value and values of public transit, and the cultural interactions and conflicts that arise in relation to light rail travel.

Attending the public hearings related to the Metro system really energized our political interests and helped us recognize the firm links between politics and public transportation.

We’re hoping that paying attention to artistic matters and the politics of public transit will give us special insight about the implications of light rail travel. Ideally, that cultural knowledge will extend our cultural knowledge concerning the region.

Image: View of Metrolink map at Grand station courtesy of H.R. from Along the Light Rail.