A “poor man’s carriage”: system building and social interactivity in UK urban tramway development, 1860–1890

Anne-Marie Coles, Ian Clarke and Athena Piterou

Industrial and Corporate Change, 2023, vol. 32, issue 3, 605-621

Abstract: Large technical systems (LTS) are socially structuring, reconfiguring governance practices and social norms. In this article, socio-technical dynamics that influenced the emergence of UK urban tramways, as examples of local LTS, are investigated, considering the role of dominant discourses in normalizing new systems. It examines how the 1870 Tramways Act attempted to adjudicate between competing interests, which shaped the context for new tramway routes. The concept of system builders is used to explain how new projects recruit public support. This case identifies constraints faced by system builders and indicates that their interaction with prevailing socio-political contexts impacts the system development and stability.

Date: 2023
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