Bikes, Bodies, and Public Space: The Role of Human Infrastructure in Urban Transport

DATE: 
Friday, March 16, 2012, 12:00pm to 1:00pm PDT
SPEAKERS: 
Adonia Lugo, UC Irvine

The video begins at 0:23.

Abstract: The bike movement in the United States tends to support infrastructural changes to streets. Reshaping the built environment is expected to stimulate behavior changes in road users. At the same time, this approach may overlook the transportation cultures of existing urban communities and raise concerns about displacement and gentrification. Based on ethnographic research and advocacy experiments in Los Angeles, Lugo proposes the concept of "human infrastructure" to describe the ways that social relationships impact how people experience the built environment. By taking both physical and human infrastructure into account, transportation planners and advocates can make social justice a key part of sustainability.