Contesting Sustainable Transportation: Bicycle Mobility in Boston and Beyond

Vol. 148, No. 4 · Research article

Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in DIE ERDE Boston and beyond Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin

Thomas Arthur Vith1, Samuel Mössner2 1Institut für Umweltsozialwissenschaften und Geographie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Werthmannstraße 4, 79098 Freiburg, [email protected] 2Institut für Geographie, WWU Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, [email protected]

Manuscript submitted: 30 December 2016 / Accepted for publication: 09 September 2017 / Published online: 21 December 2017

Abstract This article traces the social and political aspects of cycling mobility in the Boston area. For some, attracting a certain desirable demographic by investing in bicycle infrastructure is problematic because it could lead to gentrification. Not investing in low-income neighborhoods, however, could be seen as a perpetuation of an un- just distribution of resources. While the bicycle is a common cost-efficient choice among low-income residents, it also symbolizes a privilege for new urban elites, although for very different reasons. Drawing on interview data gathered between 2015 and 2016 with city officials, cycling associations, and transportation planners, the article details the different narratives that unfold in the construction of bicycling infrastructure: First, bicycling has often been conceptualized in the rhetoric of Boston city officials in terms of economic growth. The promotion of cycling helps satisfy the city’s ostensible need to attract or retain a well-educated, young and mobile workforce for whom good bike infrastructure is a criterion when choosing places to work and live. Second, some have observed that bicycle infrastructure in the US is often included in neighborhoods that are undergoing processes of gentrification or have recently been gentrified. Third, bicycle infrastructure improvements have been met with suspicion or resistance by residents in neighborhoods where displacement – or the fear of it – is an issue. This article shows that bicycle mobility in the US is charged with social dynamics which influence the way bicycle mobility is conceptualized, both as a social practice and as a political strategy.

Zusammenfassung einer Fahrradinfrastruktur im Großraum Boston in den vergangenen Jahren entstanden: Während mit Inves- Dieser Artikel zeichnet die politischen und sozialen Dimensionen nach, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Aufbau titionen in Fahrradmobilität eine spezielle demographische Gruppe angezogen werden soll, werden diese von Quartiersbewohner*innen im Zusammenhang mit Gentrifizierungsprozessen diskutiert. Gleichzeitig wird das- Zurückhalten von Investitionsmitteln zum Ausbau von Fahrradwegen und -infrastruktur in Quartieren unterer- Einkommensschichten als Verfestigung einer ungerechten Verteilung von Ressourcen gesehen. Im US-ameri kanischen Kontext ist das Fahrrad nicht nur eine kostengünstige Fortbewegungsmöglichkeit für untere Ein kommensschichten, es steht auch für das Privileg neuer urbaner Eliten. Empirische Erhebungen zwischen den- Jahren 2015 und 2016 mit Verantwortlichen der Stadtverwaltung, Fahrradvereinen und Verkehrsplaner*innen in Boston zeigen, dass sich drei unterschiedliche Narrative mit dem Aufbau eines Fahrradsystems und entspre chender -infrastruktur ergeben: Erstens wird Fahrradfahren in Boston mit einer Rhetorik des ökonomischen Wachstums und der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit verknüpft, die die Attraktivität der Stadt für gut ausgebildete, junge Thomas Arthur Vith, Samuel Mössner – DIE ERDE 148 2017: Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond. (4): 229-237

DOI: 10.12854/erde-148-51 DIE ERDE · Vol. 148 · 4/2017 229 Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond

- und mobile Arbeitskräfte stärken möchte, für welche bei der Wahl von Wohn- und Arbeitsort auch das Vorhan- densein von Fahrradinfrastruktur und -kultur eine Rolle spielt. Zweitens besteht die Beobachtung, dass in den USA Fahrradinfrastruktur oft in Stadtvierteln verbessert wird, welche sich derzeit in Gentrifizierungsprozes sen befinden oder kürzlich solche durchlaufen haben. Drittens wird gezeigt, dass Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Fahrradinfrastruktur in Quartieren, wo wohnliche Verdrängung (oder die Angst davor) Thema sind, zum Teil mit Vorbehalten oder Widerstand begegnet wird. Der Artikel zeigt auf, wie Fahrradmobilität in den USA mit sozialen Dynamiken verbunden ist, welche beeinflussen, wie Fahrradfahren sowohl als soziale Praktik, als auch Keywordsals politische Strategie konzeptionalisiert wird.

bicycling, Boston, urban development, sustainable transportation

1. Introduction - Garrard - MeschikWhile the ecological and health benefits of bicy Gössling cling remain largely undisputed ( et al. 2012;- In many cities, petrol-powered and car-centered mo 2012), there has recently been more concern bility is expected to come to an end soon ( about the social sustainability of this mode of trans 2013). In the search for alternativeHickman and sustainable portation. In the context of Boston, this concern is means of transportation, the bicycle has experienced multi-faceted. First, in the US, bicycling has often meansa renaissance of transportation in urban planning and therefore ( et al.promise 2013). to been promoted through rhetoric related to economic Bicycles are considered to be a cheap and accessible growth. From the perspective of some city officials, - economic growth is related to an ostensible need to bridge the gap of socioeconomic inequalities. Although attract or retain a well-educated, young, and mobile the emergence of bicycle transportation seems prom workforce for whom good biking infrastructure is ising, researchers have proven that this is not always a criterion when choosing a place to work and live.- the case. Cycling can exacerbate inequality because it Second, bicycle infrastructure (e.g. bike lanes or bike fits into the sustainable lifestyles of new urban elites racks) is mostly concentrated in economically pros- who are closely associated with re-urbanization and perous neighborhoods and in neighborhoods which gentrification processes. Some researchers also argue are currently undergoing processes of gentrifica that bicycling is still limited to a few cities: “A bicycle tion. Last, bicycle infrastructure improvements have- renaissance has indeed been underway over the past evoked suspicion or even resistance by residents from two decades. The boom […] has been limited to a few lower income neighborhoods where social displace aredozen islands cities inwhich a sea have of car-dominance” implemented a wide(Pucher range of ment – or the fear of it – is an issue. programs to aggressively promote cycling […] [T]hey - et al. Empirical findings illustrate that bicycle mobility in 2011: 471). - Boston is charged with social dynamics. These dynamics influence the way bicycling is conceptualized Boston,One of thethe citiescapital that of the has state recently of Massachusetts taken various and ef and spatialized, both as a social practice and as a po- forts to promote cycling for daily transportation is- litical strategy. The article attempts to analyze two- discourses that have recently emerged around cy the major metropolis of New England. This is surpris- cling: cycling for the creative class and the fragment ing insofar as Boston has been labeled a particularly transportationed spatialities of advocates, cycling infrastructure. transportation It doesplanners, so by bicycle-unfriendly city in the past. Therefore, in re drawing on ten in-depth interviews conducted with- sponse to these labels, the city’s long-term mayor - Thomas Menino started the Boston Bikes program in and transportation planning officials. These inter September 2007 and announced: “The car is no Bostonlonger views took place between 2015 and 2016. Addition Bikesking in Boston”.McGrory As such, the program would aim to ally, the article draws upon empirical material such “make Boston a world-class bicycling city” ( as newspaper articles, planning documents, and blog- 2008a: 1; 2012). posts. In doing so, this article contributes to a body of critical transportation literature which situates cy cling in a social context. DIE ERDE · Vol. 148 · 4/2017

230 Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond

2. The transportation transition in the US

2.2 Commodifying cycling transportation 2.1 The decline of car-dependent modes of It has been argued by variousGolub scholars thatHoffmann bicycling was – andStehlin still is – a crucial means of transportation for low-income residents ( et al. 2016; When it comes to traditional car-friendly societies,- 2016; 2015). Some academics state that this the US has always played a unique role by placing a demographic uses the bike because of its affordability, particularly high societal value on car mobility. How rather than for fashionable or environmental reasons.- ever, the bicycle was a main mode of transportation- Moreover, most surveys indicate Hoffmann that lower-income in the US at the end of the 19th and the beginning of residents are an already big and still growing propor the 20th century. It was later pushed into insignifi tion of the body of urban cyclists ( 2016). - cance by mass-motorizationBeauregard and policies favoring- suburbanization. As a Jackson result of post-war “parasitic As bicycle mobility is increasingly returning to Amer importanturbanization” asset ( in order to 2006) mask and profound intense dissimi subur- ican urbanism,Hoffmann it does not enter the field free of any- banization processes ( 1985), the car was an- class attribution, but is, to the contrary, symbolically charged. argues: “The bicycle is not an apo larities and inequalities that came along with urbani litical, neutral form of mobility. It carries with it a- zation patterns since the 1950s. In contrast to existing diversity of signification depending on its location in social polarizations, the car was socially constructed time and space” (2016: 4). Prominently, bicycle mobil- as equally accessible, affordable and mobilizing for all ity is connected toStehlin young, privileged people and “the theparts of working society. As such, it could be used to signifiers of an ecologically responsible and cosmo facilitate vertical economic mobility. The car became politan lifestyle” ( 2015: 121). - symbol of freedom and self-determination in the US, as well as in many other countries. “Green light for Besides the hope that biking might contribute to so free citizens” (Original:Schümann Freie Fahrt für freie Bürger),- cially just transportation for lower-income residents, moteda prominent resistance slogan against by the the German speed limits Car Associationon German Accordingit seems to to beFlorida’s increasingly favored because of its ADAC in 1974 ( 2011: no page given), pro- economic benefits for upwardly mobile individuals. Florida highly controversial writings,The highways. This symbolized the societal understand- Atlantic,members Florida of the desirable so-called ‘creative class’ are ing which equated cars with universal human rights.- more likely to bike ( 2011). In an article in - Beyond symbolizing human rights, for many, the own presents his statistical analysis: “[M] ership of a car expresses the owner’sKopecky wealth and sociSuen etros where more people cycle to work are more afflu- etal position. In the US, car-ownership increased from ent. […] Cycling to work is positivelyFlorida associated 2011: no pagewith 2% to 82% between 1910 and 1970 ( the shareFlorida of creative class jobs [.] and negatively asso- 2010), and reached almost 90% of all households by ciated with working class jobs” ( 2015. given). is very clear in his message that suc criticism in the 1970s due to insecurities in the min- harshceeding criticism in attracting of his the ideas “creative in academia class” will (among make oth the- eralThe prevalenceoil market of(Furness car-centric mobilityMapes first received ers:difference Krätke betweenPeck winners andFlorida’s losers. enterprise Despite has the - 2010; 2009). In the- 2012; Creative 2005), Class Group search for an alternative to petrol-powered cars, bi been commissioned by many municipalities around cycles re-appeared as a suitable mode of transporta- the US and the globe ( 2016). tion. Poorer households are especially affected by the - discontinuation of car-dependent tax benefits, in ad It seems apparent that there is an attitude among city dition to the higher costs of car-based mobility. The officials in the US that predominantly considers bicy transition to sustainable mobility is struggling to deal- cling as economically beneficial. The “creative class”- with these new inequalities and the social change that- ideology brought a shift to bicycle planning: “Cities- accompanies them. Bicycling is discussed in this con that once built bicycle infrastructureHoffmann to promote en text as a low-cost, low-tech and just mode of transpor seevironmentally also Lugo friendly lifestyles now build it to at- tation that is accessible for people of various ages and tract young, educated workers” ( 2015: 139; abilities. 2015). This signifies the striking com DIE ERDE · Vol. 148 · 4/2017 modification of livability in contemporary urbanism

231 Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond

(Stehlin make places interesting for investment and therefore called Hubway Vélib’ 2014), where livability is considered a way to In 2011, the city of Boston started a bike share scheme . It was modeled afterHubway the popular into a trans- becomes a part of the politics of urban growth. - bike share in Paris. The Metropolitan Area Planning - Council (MAPC) helped Hubway’to turn s start in Boston, the When cities started to think about bicycle infrastruc local project which would go beyond the city limits of ture as an economic factor, this image was also very no- Boston. One year after - ticeably employed by bicycle advocacy. In 2014 the two neighboring municipalities Brookline, Cambridge,- calledinfluential Protected national bike advocacylanes mean groups business: Alliance How 21forst cenBik- and Somerville joined the program andMotivate installed sta turying & transportation Walking and networksPeopleForBikes help new published urban economies a report tions as well. Since the start of the program, the num boom ber of users has grown continuously ( 2016).

. Rather than mention environmental or equity- The Boston Bikes program seems to be aware of the- reasons for promoting cycling, the report discusses social contradictions it produces. While still catering the economic benefits of cycling without a critical ap to a predominantly white and male creative class, sev proach to urban ‘revitalization’ and the gentrification- eral programs are developed under the umbrella of that comes with it. Moreover, it even seems to be keen Boston Bikes that seek to activelyWomen include Bike! those social to promote cycling on the basis of economic improve groups which were often underrepresented or even ments for some, but not all of urban residents. Bicycling excluded from biking: The program was- Andersenis presented and as Hall a key appear component to lack awhich critical makes perspective a place launched in order to deal with the uneven gender ratio more interesting and thus increases its economic value. among cyclist, particularly addressing female or gen - der-nonconforming riders who never learned to ride when they state: “Today’s cities are actively creating- a bike or Rollhave it Forwardnot practiced cycling for a long time.- vibrant city life to attract top talent and economic de It offers two free learn-to-ride classes led by women. velopment” (2014: 15). As a seeming response to a gen Through , Boston Bikes tries to distrib erally negative reception of the report, the very same- ute bicycles among the city’s low-income residents, organizations published Andersenanother reportand Hall the following because the initial purchase of a bike could be too big year which highlighted equity questions related to bi a financial barrier. According to its own statement, cycle mobility in the US ( 2015). the city has distributed around 4,400 bikes since the 3. The Boston Bikes program Youthstart of Cycling the program. Program Additionally, the program offers bike safety workshops for program participants. The offers workshops to students- at school grades 2 to 12, teaching them how to bike The Boston Bikes program was started in the fall of- safely. Around 35,000Hubway kids and young adults have par- 2007 by the city’s former long-term mayor Thomas ticipated in workshops so far. Furthermore, the city Menino. In the first newsletter, the city council stat offers subsidized memberships for low-in ed its ideas about the undertaking: “The program is come residents, shifting the annual membershipBoston costsBikes just part of the administration’s vision for a vibrant- from 85 to 5 USD and the time frame for free use rises ingand safehealthy and cityinviting that conditionsbenefits all for its allcitizens. residents It seeks and from up to 30 minutes to up to one hour ( visitors”to make (BostonBoston aBikes world-class bicycling city by creat 2017). modal split (Boston Transportation Department 2008b: no page given). This step With bicycling making up roughly two percent in the (wasZezima in response to Boston’s longstanding reputation as 2015), one of the worst cities for cyclists in the United States the success of the city’s efforts appears to be rather 2009). A lack of biking infrastructure, heavy modest in terms of cyclist numbers. When confronted car traffic, and a famously aggressive drivingBoston style with the seemingly low impact the program has had Bikesamong motor-vehicle drivers granted the city multiple on the number of cyclists, a city official responded: negative awards from bicycle magazines (c.f. 2014). Since the beginning of the Boston Bikes It’s also about getting the next generation to bike, program, considerable effort has been made to make which is something else that Boston Bikes has the street network more suitable for cyclists, some of worked really hard on. (Interview, 06.01.16-A) which will be discussed in the following sections. DIE ERDE · Vol. 148 · 4/2017

232 Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond

Even though the number of cyclists in Boston is not yet- The notion of good urban planning and a thriving, liv- significant enough to argue for a fundamental change in able city is presented as intertwined with population Boston’s modal split, the Boston Bike programBicycle magazine has suc growth and economic progress. In this context, bicy cessfully transformed the city’s former negative image- cling is intended to contribute to creating a place thatin relation to cycling. Only recently,Dille attracts not just new people, but also employment imageannounced of Boston Boston has to improved be one of from the mostthe perspective “bike-friend of opportunities and economic improvements. Further- ly” municipalities in the US ( 2016). Although the more, there is an unmistakable connection between that various communities throughout Boston do not bicycle mobility and a progressive, creative, and eco cyclists, the small increase in ridership demonstrates nomically innovative environment. benefit from the program. I think investing in bicycling is an investment in 4. Cycling along the social divides your residents, […] in creating a place that feels like a city, where, yes, new people are going to move and yes, new jobs are going to come. And yes, this is a place where we’re coming up with new technology 4.1 “Cycling is part of an eco-system of creative and new innovations. (Interview, 06.01.16-B) - people and buzz and young people and art” - This was contrasted by voices from advocacy and ad A repeated issue that came up during the interviews ministration which claimed that Boston already has was that a certain demographic (‘young talent’, ‘crea a unique ability to attract the ‘creative class’ because tive talent’, ‘millennials’) prefers not to be dependent of its extremely high density of higher education. The on the car or, sometimes more particularly, prefers- resulting availability of college graduates would make to live in cities with good bike infrastructure and it unnecessary to particularly target educated young strong bike culture. Furthermore, cycling and bicy people as residents for the city. As a leading Boston cle infrastructure are considered to be indicators for Transportation Department official put it during the good quality of living and progressiveness. Investing interview: toin attractmodes ofand transportation retain a certain like kind biking of demographic or walking asin well as making streets more livable would thus help- [Promoting cycling] is a way of making a place more livable. I think that it no doubt can sort of the city. The following passage from an interview ex retain talent [or] attract talent. [...] I’m not a giant emplifies this attitude: believer in the Richard Florida research, but maybe it’s also because I live in a city that has thousands [P]eople who do have choices [where to live] see and thousands of college students already. […] So places that support bikes as being the kind of places we already have tens of thousands of the creative they want to live in, even if they aren’t biking. It’s- class. (Interview, 11.02.16) part of an eco-system of creative people and buzz and young people and art. […]. [T]o see bikes, bik On a different note, some interviewees stressed that ing, to see a cool bike rack is a sign that you’re in a Boston had to invest in bicycling in order to prevent certain kind of neighborhood, a certain kind of city. a transportation crisis due to a dilapidated public- (Interview, 06.01.16-A) transportation system, steady population growth,- frastructureand a street in grid need that of alreadyrepair demonstrates fails to cope withthat it au is There seems to be no doubt that the bicycle goes tomobile related transportation. Traffic jams and in beyond its function as a means of transportation. It- serves as a signifier for an urban culture that strives- already difficult to manage the transportation system- for livability, vitality, density, and proximity. It there in Boston. If Boston as a city doesn’t reduce its share by runs the risk of Stehlinbeing involved in a vision of eco of automobiles or promote other modes of transpor nomic development that benefits from the favorable- tation, it is unclear how functional the city could be in image of biking. As concludes, “[...] bike culture the long run. has become intertwined with accumulation strate gies that capitalize on the framing of cycling as one commodity among many which make up the lifestyle ofDIE livability” ERDE · Vol. (2014: 35). 148 · 4/2017

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gone to some communities, not to others” the Hubway 4.2 “Traditionally transportation investments have effortsAnother to point expand of criticism Hubway was the uneven expansion of bike share. Just recently the city has taken- into parts of Roxbury, North- Boston is not just facing a significant population- Dorchester and East Boston. These are all neighbor growth, but also increasing property values in various colorhoods ( Herndon that are relatively centrally located but histori- parts of the city. BluestoneConsequently, there areLoth strong con cally underserved, with higher proportions of people of cerns about affordability and displacement in many 2016). It appears that there is some prag neighborhoods ( et al. 2015; 2016).- matism involved in setting up stations in the city center,- Bicycle mobility becomes part of this discussion on since dense and highly frequented areas are more likely different levels. In many interviews, a concern for bi to reach a desirable number of users. Moreover, a sta cycle-related gentrification was expressed, although tion-based bike share scheme makes it necessary to take- this topic is discussed less openly in Boston than in proximity between stations into account when it comes other cities. The city of BostonRios does face criticism for- to the question of where to set up new locations for rent focusing their bicycle infrastructure improvements criticalal stations. reading However, of the thissituation can only has partiallyto take into explain account an on wealthier neighborhoods ( 2016) and for up uneven distribution pattern in a bike share scheme. A- holding patterns of an unequal urban development. In response, city officials working in the field of biking- how those actions are reinforcing a questionable distri argued that their small budget for bicycle investment bution of resources among different neighborhoods. - would make it hard to undo years of uneven investment in different neighborhoods. Following another As shown, bicycling policies in Boston diverge signifi line of argument, they stated that the focus of im cantly from the common image of cycling as a just form- provements for cyclists in wealthier parts of the city of transportation. They seem to reproduce a fragmented was unintended and pragmatically based on factors- social landscape of transportation that has been estab- like density or proximity to downtown. Interviewees- lished by traditional transportation policies in the past. who work for or with the city administration acknowl While other cities seem to more explicitly attempt to tar edged this imbalance, but offered different explana get the ‘creative class’ with their urban planning policies, tions for this situation. One of them was of a financial the city of Boston’s rhetoric concerning bicycle mobility nature, arguing that it was difficult to overcome this also fits into a narrative of attracting young, educated pattern of imbalanced public investment. - people for economic prosperity. vestments have gone to some communities, not to My feeling is that traditionally transportation in 4.3 Discussing equity questions and resistance - others. And that bicycling, the bicycling program, - the money that it has, is not enough to overcome As previously stated, there seems to be a rather uncriti- decades of neglect. (Interview, 06.01.16-B) cal promotion of cycling in the light of economic develop ment. This is in turn related to attracting certain desir- A second explanation that came up was the idea that able demographics. As a result, questions about equity the city installed more bike facilities in wealthier- connected to bicycle planning have increased in impor- neighborhoods rather unintentionally by picking the- tance. The installation of bike infrastructure has been ‘low hanging fruits’ first. Following this line of argu- progressively discussed in the context of social dispari ment, the density of various places and/or their prox ties in different neighborhoods. During one interview, a imity to the city’s downtown would make some neigh public administration official stated: borhoods more suitable to install bike facilities. There’s also a real concern about gentrification and placesI think thatin our are city in our[…] thedensest places areas, where the we places probably that what that means when you do get that bike lane. Does invested more in bike infrastructure have been in- that mean that suddenly no one can afford to live in the neighborhood anymore? And while I am not sure that- are most proximate to downtown and consequent bike lanes are the causation of gentrification they’re- ly are places […] where there are higher property definitely part of a whole sweeping change that hap values. (Interview, 11.02.16) pens in cities that can be perceived as negatively im pacting current residents. (Interview, 06.01.16-B) DIE ERDE · Vol. 148 · 4/2017

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Stehlin

As stated by (2014), who addresses this issue appear to have received more attention. This might- more directly, the new developments in bicycling are be in line with a more general pattern of an uneven intertwined with current processes of gentrification. distribution of resources in cities. However, the find This is especially visible in more peripheralStehlin parts of ings also suggest that investments in bicycle mobility the city, where bicycle infrastructure is “more likely to- Evenin Boston though have the become Boston intertwined Bikes program with tries discussions to chal- follow, or even lead, gentrification” ( Emily2014: Bad 30).- about neighborhood affordability and gentrification. gerConcerning the connection between bicycling and so cial inequalities, Washington Post journalist lenge the current image of cycling in the city, biking is points out the unclear causality between the two- still perceived to be linked to a privileged population. phenomena: “In whicheverBadger order events occur – if the Badgernew bars or the bike lanes come first – the two have be In order for bicycling to live up to its potential as a come awkwardly linked” ( 2016: no page given). holistically sustainable mode of transportation,Golub the further states that low-income residents worry conversation about the social dimension needs to be ifabout improvements the effects new are bicyclemade afterinfrastructure redevelopment has on theirtook deepened. The recent considerations by et al.- neighborhood and its affordability. On the other hand, (2016) concerning what they call “bicycle justice” are a first – and hopefully impactful – start. When schol alteredplace, citizens (Badger ask themselves why this change did not ars notice an uneven distribution of public resources happen before the demographics of the neighborhood- in the field of cycling, this might be symptomatic of 2016). Both cases can have negative more general patterns of inequality, rather than an- implications. “By focusing construction on the most in- isolated phenomenon. The question of the relationship ticestense inflashpoint terms of ofclass, gentrification, race and geographic the bicycle isolation” network between bike infrastructure changes and gentrifica- (reflectsStein 2011: and reproduces the city’s transportation injus tion processes needs to be empirically investigated further. This issue leads to a much broader and press- 37). This causes great concerns about the ing question: How can a city government improve the systemic racial discrimination that comes along with built environment in historically underserved neigh this “just” mode of transportation. Paradoxically, this is borhoods without fostering social fragmentation and- particularly the case in places that have been lauded social exclusion? This is a question which is not only for their progressive and sustainable European-style relevant in the US, but which could be asked in a Euro bicycle planning by many, among which are New York pean setting as well. City, Portland, Oregon, and Boston. 5. Conclusion All in all, the case of bicycle mobility in Boston shows that seemingly sustainable means of transportation- - do not automatically contribute to more socially just - or environmentally sustainable urban transporta- coursesAs the presentaround articlesocial demonstrated,fragmentation bicycleand economic mobil tion. It is crucial to consider how policies promoting ity in the US has become highly intertwined with dis- these modes of transportation are politically concep tualized and implemented. Otherwise, the promotion prosperity in cities. In the context of Boston, the in of ostensibly sustainable transportation will simply vestment in bicycle mobility proved to be driven more serve to exacerbate existing inequalities. by economic or political pragmatism than concerns References about sustainability or equity. This decision could be- motivated by a desire to attract a young, mobile, and Andersen, M M. Hall ‘creative’ workforce for which good biking infrastruc ture is appealing. Bicycling was also promoted as a . and 2014: Protected bike lanes mean way to counteract difficulties the city is facing with business: How 21st century transportation networks help the current transportation system, or in anticipation new urban economies boom. – Alliance for Biking & Walking of the difficulties which a growing city might face in and PeopleForBikes. – Online available at: http://b.3cdn. net/bikes/123e6305136c85cf56_0tm6vjeuo.pdf, accessed the future. - Andersen, M. and M. Hall 2015: - 03/11/2017 - Building Equity: Race, eth The findings show that investments in bicycle mo - bility are not evenly distributed among all neighbor nicity, class, and protected bike lanes. An idea book for fairer cities. – Alliance for Biking & Walking and People hoods.DIE ERDE Rather, · Vol. 148 generally · 4/2017 wealthier neighborhoods

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