Equitable Bike scapes: A Design Research Thesis on biking and community by Thanh My Nguyen

Equitable BikeScapes: Thanh My Nguyen Thesis

Thanh My Nguyen Thesis Advisor Katrina Johnson Zimmerman

While there have been many proposed solutions to make city cycling more inclusive, change is hard to implement without immediate benefits that require limited cost. Infrastructural change can take years and is quite capital intensive; interventions are not guaranteed to be welcomed by community members who may resist change outside of their authority. In order to encourage underserved women to bike, a viable solution must address concerns of perceived safety while being cognizant of societal attitudes. For these reasons, engaging in human-centered design processes and employing tactical urbanism could be viable solutions to addressing inequities in Philadelphia’s bikescape. By studying past examples of tactical urbanism and engaging with community members in participatory design methods, this project aims to synthesize a model solution to make biking more equitable in Philadelphia. In doing so, the project will question the nature of bicycling culture and create an arena to examine how such culture can grow to benefit urban underserved communities.

Equitable Bikescapes Design Research Thesis Thanh My Nguyen