Theorizing bicycle justice using social psychology Examining the intersection of mode and race with the conceptual model of roadway interactions
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Planners and engineers have come a long way in understanding the inequitable ways that infrastructure investment can benefit certain communities while negatively impacting, even destroying, others (Martens et al., 2012). There has been increasing recognition that infrastructure planning and implementation, especially (but not exclusively) in the United States, often negatively affects people of color and immigrants; for example, via highway construction or transit-system decisions (Martens et al., 2012). These system-level decisions of where and for whom are often made far away from planning charrettes or engineering plans for individual projects. That does not mean, however, that decisions made at the design and engineering level are exempt from consideration of potentially inequitable impacts. When advancing the dual goals of increased bicycle ridership and bicyclist safety, planners, engineers, and advocates must acknowledge that peoples interactions with infrastructure do not occur in an asocial vacuum, and roadway users do not interact with or experience the roadway environment in exactly the same ways. Understanding the underlying mechanisms for these differing experiences is vital to creating a bicycle transportation system that is not only effective and safe, but just.
