Britain\u2019s Changing Roadscapes: Mobility, Place, Attachment, Loss<\/em><\/a> tells the unfolding story of road journeys by car with a focus on the shifting cultural, social, political, and economic landscapes of Britain,<\/p>\nThe book balances journeys past, present and future with a myriad of quirky and fascinating photographs encompassing the \u2018wonder and poignancy\u2019 of life on the road and also relays \u2018the full agony\u2019 of conveyer belt motorway driving and overhead digital gantries.<\/p>\n
It is billed as \u2018a must-read for anyone fascinated by the journeys we make by car\u2019 and is published by Routledge.<\/p>\n
The motivation behind the book is a lifetime of driving by the author, specifically the long and often not-so-winding road between her current home in the Highlands of Scotland and the south-west of Cornwall where she was born and grew up.<\/p>\n
Drawing on her trusted road diaries and photographic archive dating back to the 1990s, the book centres on a route which follows the A85, A82, M8, M74, M6, M5, A30 and Cornwall\u2019s narrow country lanes demonstrating the \u2018sheer variety and idiosyncrasy\u2019 of Britain\u2019s road network.<\/p>\n
The book is also concerned with how mundane change on the road makes its presence felt, the author arguing that this often depends upon the \u2018yardstick\u2019 of the human life as travellers compare the road today with what it was like formerly.<\/p>\n
Alongside the \u2018new arrivals\u2019 to the British roadscape, Professor Pearce captures significant departures including the disappearance of the roadside cafes, filling stations, phone boxes, lay-bys and snack bars associated with twentieth century motoring.<\/p>\n
She reflects on why people develop powerful attachments for particular routes and roadside landmarks such as a significant group of \u2018homecoming\u2019 trees on the Cornish border or a favourite and time-evasive service station (Taunton Deane).<\/p>\n
This, in turn, relates to one of the book\u2019s key findings – how change on the road can result in profound disorientation for drivers and other road users.<\/p>\n
While this may begin as bodily disorientation (taking the wrong turning, getting lost on a once-familiar route), it can also provoke a powerful emotional response.<\/p>\n
This is evident in many of the forum posts on the website of the \u2018Society of All British and Irish Road Enthusiasts\u2019 [SABRE] that the author draws upon frequently in her case studies.<\/p>\n
Change on the road, as in other mundane environments, maps onto change in the human life course, and for road enthusiasts these frequently become entangled.<\/p>\n
Along the way, the author identifies seven categories of change that have made their presence felt on Britain\u2019s roads over the past 30 years – including the transformation of the driver-passenger experience as a result of the re-scaling of vehicles (what she refers to as \u2018autobesity\u2019), and the impact of extreme weather as the result of climate change.<\/p>\n
She notes that the latter is probably the book\u2019s most consequential research finding.<\/p>\n
Weather events (in particular, landslips resulting from heavy rain) have made driving in the UK (and especially in Scotland) so much more unpredictable, while extreme heat can make long journeys much more uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Academically, the book addresses long-standing geographical debates on place, place-attachment and aesthetics, as well as the unique properties of \u2018journeying\u2019, and is aimed at those working in geography, sociology history, and literary and cultural studies.<\/p>\n
However, its autobiographical case studies, historical route descriptions, photographic archive, and general accessibility mean that it should also be of interest to road enthusiasts and the general reader.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the experience of writing the book, Professor Pearce observes that it was the proverbial \u2018lifetime in the making\u2019, grounded in a 40-year relationship with Britain\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that time, I\u2019ve seen the gleaming white concrete of Britain\u2019s new motorway network discolour and decay, even while the mundane features of the twentieth-century A-road (phone boxes, lay-bys, snack bars, roadside cafes), and the habits and routines associated with them, slowly fade from view,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay to day, these transformations are imperceptible, but every so often we mark the change and, in the process, reconnect with landmark moments in our own lives as well the social and cultural milieux to which we have belonged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynne Pearce is a Professor of Literary and Cultural Theory in the School of Arts at Lancaster University and Co-Director (Humanities) of CeMoRe (Lancaster University\u2019s Centre for Mobilities Research). Her recent publications include Drivetime <\/em>(2016) and Mobility, Memory and the Lifecourse<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\nBritain\u2019s Changing Roadscapes<\/em><\/a>is published by Routledge on 6 February, 2026 and retails at \u00a3155 (hardback) and \u00a336.79 (ebook). A paperback will follow next year.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are delighted to announce the publication of a new book by our co-Director Prof. Lynne Pearce. Britain\u2019s Changing Roadscapes: Mobility, Place, Attachment, Loss tells the unfolding story of road journeys by car with a focus on the shifting cultural, social, political, and economic landscapes of Britain, The book balances journeys past, present and future […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":10586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[384,430],"class_list":["post-10585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobilities-general","tag-automobility","tag-humanities"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/cemore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}