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Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance
Bicycle/Race paints an unforgettable picture of Los Angeles—and the United States—from the perspective of two wheels. This is a book of borderlands and intersections, a cautionary tale about the dangers of putting infrastructure before culture, and a coming-of-age story about power and identity. The colonial history of southern California is interwoven through Adonia Lugo's story of growing up Chicana in Orange County, becoming a bicycle anthropologist, and co-founding Los Angeles's hallmark open streets cycling event, CicLAvia, along the way. When she takes on racism in the world of national bicycle advocacy in Washington, DC, she finds her voice and heads back to LA to organize the movement for environmental justice in active transportation.
In the tradition of City of Quartz, this book will forever change the way you see Los Angeles, race and class in the United States, and the streets and people around you wherever you live.
In the tradition of City of Quartz, this book will forever change the way you see Los Angeles, race and class in the United States, and the streets and people around you wherever you live.
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
32 people are currently reading
1089 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
July 10, 2018
If you are an advocate you may want to spend a couple hours with this book and try to understand a perspective that is rarely valued and subsequently not elevated. If you wonder why people of color don't show up to your events, this piece might give you some insight.
July 4, 2018
This book should be required reading for all bicycle activists and organizers. Our bicycle advocacy must be intersectional.
I also learned a lot about the history of Southern California. Having not grown up in California, I was never required to take California History in school. I’m glad I got to read this.
Luigi’s struggles with the LAB makes me both angry and feel defeated.
I also learned a lot about the history of Southern California. Having not grown up in California, I was never required to take California History in school. I’m glad I got to read this.
Luigi’s struggles with the LAB makes me both angry and feel defeated.
December 18, 2018
This book was a touch disappointing, especially after two contacts from bikeland recommended it to me. It was impossible to find (no library had it available) so I bought a copy, ehh. I could feel her passion but I honestly didn't understand everything Lugo was referring to, even though I am fairly familiar with the work of many of the people she cited (Pucher and Buehler, Bourdieu, Anzaldua, etc.), feel competent in understanding matters of environmental justice and infrastructure-related gentrification, and quite fluent with the concept of bikes and their power as a social tool from a social science academic perspective. In short, my expertise would surmise that I would understand nearly all of what she referred to, but she didn't flesh out her theoretical musings for me to fully grasp all the nuances. Because this book reads more as a memoir than a book about equitable bike policy, maybe understanding her perspective on how to better pursue equity in the bike-osphere wasn't the most important thing, but I was hoping to become a convert to the cause and I remain slightly on the outskirts, confused. I admit that my whiteness may prevent me from being able to understand it as easily, but it really looks to me more like rushed editing -- much would be gained from a semi-outsider reading the copy to make sure the clarity is there for the target audience. I'm intrigued enough to consider having a look at her academic writings, but my world wasn't transformed as I'd initially hoped.
February 21, 2023
I'd give it a 3.75! Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a while. This is a deep dive into bike advocacy and Lugo does a great job of presenting a topic I know nothing about into digestible pieces. Portland is talked about a lot (the author went to undergrad at Reed) and it was very interesting to see the many different lenses that bike advocacy is seen through. Most of the ethnographic research in this book takes place in LA, but this also touches on how Portland may be a "bike city" but really only for certain people (wealthy and white) and ignores the people that use bikes as a necessary form of transportation (often POC). Learned a lot about the racial segregation of bike culture (dating back to when bikes were first invented) and a very in depth look at all of the red tape that grassroots movements have to cut through in order to get something off the ground (bureaucracy literally makes me lose my mind). Felt like a book someone would be assigned in a sociology class at LC (in a good way).
October 13, 2020
I started reading this book expecting to learn about the best practices in bike advocacy but was pleasantly surprised to read a memoir of a bike advocate. Adonia E. Lugo writes about her experience working on racial equity in bike advocacy as a mixed race Chicanx anthropologist. Bike advocacy, and transportation in general, is dominated by White engineers in the US, and focuses on solutions that disproportionately hurt racially and economically disadvantaged communities.
Bike advocacy has largely become about infrastructure. While bike lanes are important, infrastructure that relies on enforcement allows for more discretionary policing of Black and brown bodies. In neighborhoods that have not seen investment in public space for years, bike lanes are also the harbinger of gentrification. What does equitable bike advocacy look like? We'd know if advocates such a Lugo weren't constantly thwarted.
Lugo's effort to create a Park(ing) Day, when people feed parking meters and set up mini parks on the street, in the predominately Latino neighborhood around MacArthur Park underscores the need of a racial lens in bike advocacy. As they set up a canopy, her group was stopped by police They asked the group to get off the street and would not budge. In the Whiter and wealthier neighborhoods, Park(ing) Day was an unhindered success.
While policing is a problem on its own, bike advocacy's focus on solutions that work better for White people while tokenizing racial equity has only furthered racial injustice. Adonia E. Lugo's account of leading the racial equity work of the well-funded League of American Bicyclists was also interesting to read because of my own proximity to the DC bike advocacy community. Working on racial equity in a predominantly white organization is like walking on eggshells. .
Adonia E. Lugo devotes large sections of the book to the history of the Southern Californian land she grew up in, her identity as a mixed race person who found freedom with a bike, and the racist history of the bike advocacy movement. While she wrote her dissertation on the cicLAvia, a movement that temporarily closes streets to cars and gives it back to pedestrians and cyclists, she doesn't explicitly talk about her dissertation. I would have liked to read more about setting up cicLAvia because it is a rare example of North America adopting a program that originated in South America (Bogota, Colombia). She focuses instead on the process of gathering data and speaking to subjects for her dissertation. This book could have used a few more revisions but this is should be required reading for bike advocates and urbanists.
--
October 2020
Focusing on urban design, rather than people who inhabit and produce places, all too easily naturalizes their market-driven displacement.
Bike advocacy has largely become about infrastructure. While bike lanes are important, infrastructure that relies on enforcement allows for more discretionary policing of Black and brown bodies. In neighborhoods that have not seen investment in public space for years, bike lanes are also the harbinger of gentrification. What does equitable bike advocacy look like? We'd know if advocates such a Lugo weren't constantly thwarted.
Lugo's effort to create a Park(ing) Day, when people feed parking meters and set up mini parks on the street, in the predominately Latino neighborhood around MacArthur Park underscores the need of a racial lens in bike advocacy. As they set up a canopy, her group was stopped by police They asked the group to get off the street and would not budge. In the Whiter and wealthier neighborhoods, Park(ing) Day was an unhindered success.
While policing is a problem on its own, bike advocacy's focus on solutions that work better for White people while tokenizing racial equity has only furthered racial injustice. Adonia E. Lugo's account of leading the racial equity work of the well-funded League of American Bicyclists was also interesting to read because of my own proximity to the DC bike advocacy community. Working on racial equity in a predominantly white organization is like walking on eggshells. .
Adonia E. Lugo devotes large sections of the book to the history of the Southern Californian land she grew up in, her identity as a mixed race person who found freedom with a bike, and the racist history of the bike advocacy movement. While she wrote her dissertation on the cicLAvia, a movement that temporarily closes streets to cars and gives it back to pedestrians and cyclists, she doesn't explicitly talk about her dissertation. I would have liked to read more about setting up cicLAvia because it is a rare example of North America adopting a program that originated in South America (Bogota, Colombia). She focuses instead on the process of gathering data and speaking to subjects for her dissertation. This book could have used a few more revisions but this is should be required reading for bike advocates and urbanists.
--
October 2020
November 6, 2024
3.5/5
To preface, I don't know much about the world of bicycle advocacy.
This book reads a bit more like a memoir than a deeper exploration of bicycle advocacy. While Adonia Lugo's background as a biracial Chicana woman from the borderlands no doubt influences her approach to and perspective on life and activism, the book is slightly myopic in its focus on Lugo's individual experiences in the world of bicycle advocacy. Clearly influenced by Lugo's background in anthropology, Bicycle/Race tends to approach theory from a bottom-up approach starting from Lugo's personal experiences and resumé, and expanding to the Los Angeles biking landscape. Bottom-up approaches are key when it comes to designing effective social and community solutions, but Lugo's, unaccompanied by any top-down approaches, actually make it more difficult to get a grasp on the larger landscape of bicycle advocacy.
Still, Lugo valuably distinguishes between popular bike advocacy efforts and the actual biking landscape: Much of the bike advocacy movement is white, rich, educated, and car-free out of choice, and thus they fail to consider the needs of the large swaths of the population that bike out of necessity and inaccessibility to other forms of transportation (Chapter 2: The Captive and Carfree). These needs extend beyond building bike paths to include community-based resources, or "human infrastructure," such as neighborhood bicycle cooperatives and open street initiatives.
Lugo further emphasizes major issues with popular bike advocacy movements as well as our car-dependent society (known by Angelinos as "autopia") in Chapter 3: Post-Colonial Los Angeles and Chapter 4: Living in the Plains of Id, establishing bike advocates' failure to adequately consider those who bike out of necessity as a larger failure to address communities in need. In criticizing autopia, Lugo describes it not only as the system of freeways and car culture of Los Angeles, but also the mindset that driving is king and symbolic of innovation.
Dismantling autopia is key to bike advocacy in Los Angeles. Not only do Angelinos rely on cars for day-to-day tasks, but they also see the four walls of the car as a means of protecting their upper-middle class bodies from the poor people of color outside. While bureaucratic processes and government entities pose obstacles for bicycle advocacy efforts, so do upper-middle class Angelinos who are unable to decenter driving or detach their classism/racism from biking.
Lugo makes some of her best arguments in Chapter 9: "Bicycle Gentrification," which discusses white bicycle advocates' aims to create bicycle infrastructure that, like general gentrification, advertently -- or inadvertently -- displaces Black and brown residents under the guise of "progress" and advancement. Here, Lugo effectively highlights the significance of an intersectional and multiracial approach, demonstrating the harms that can manifest as a result of a singular approach to environmental and community advocacy.
Later in the book, Lugo details her experience working at the League of American Bicyclists as it was burdened by the bureaucratic DC nonprofit scene. Such policy-based approaches, frustratingly slow processes, and deeply entrenched structures are incredibly relatable to me as a nonprofit worker based out of DC. While I understand Lugo's interest in building bicycle infrastructure through governmental means, it does seem rather at odds with her grassroots philosophy.
Overall an insightful discussion into intersectional bicycle advocacy, though slightly limited as it is filtered almost entirely through Lugo's personal experiences. Mainly, Lugo suggests that the bicycle advocacy world is in need of an overhaul where the needs of marginalized communities and bicyclists are not just an afterthought, but a central component and consideration of advocacy efforts. Efforts to tack bike paths onto existing car roads are not sustainable means of pushing the movement forward; the country's car-dominant structures and mentalities must be tackled at their core and dismantled in order for the populous to support and participate in bicycle systems. I'm interested in reading more about bicycle advocacy, particularly its interconnections with race and class.
To preface, I don't know much about the world of bicycle advocacy.
This book reads a bit more like a memoir than a deeper exploration of bicycle advocacy. While Adonia Lugo's background as a biracial Chicana woman from the borderlands no doubt influences her approach to and perspective on life and activism, the book is slightly myopic in its focus on Lugo's individual experiences in the world of bicycle advocacy. Clearly influenced by Lugo's background in anthropology, Bicycle/Race tends to approach theory from a bottom-up approach starting from Lugo's personal experiences and resumé, and expanding to the Los Angeles biking landscape. Bottom-up approaches are key when it comes to designing effective social and community solutions, but Lugo's, unaccompanied by any top-down approaches, actually make it more difficult to get a grasp on the larger landscape of bicycle advocacy.
Still, Lugo valuably distinguishes between popular bike advocacy efforts and the actual biking landscape: Much of the bike advocacy movement is white, rich, educated, and car-free out of choice, and thus they fail to consider the needs of the large swaths of the population that bike out of necessity and inaccessibility to other forms of transportation (Chapter 2: The Captive and Carfree). These needs extend beyond building bike paths to include community-based resources, or "human infrastructure," such as neighborhood bicycle cooperatives and open street initiatives.
Lugo further emphasizes major issues with popular bike advocacy movements as well as our car-dependent society (known by Angelinos as "autopia") in Chapter 3: Post-Colonial Los Angeles and Chapter 4: Living in the Plains of Id, establishing bike advocates' failure to adequately consider those who bike out of necessity as a larger failure to address communities in need. In criticizing autopia, Lugo describes it not only as the system of freeways and car culture of Los Angeles, but also the mindset that driving is king and symbolic of innovation.
Dismantling autopia is key to bike advocacy in Los Angeles. Not only do Angelinos rely on cars for day-to-day tasks, but they also see the four walls of the car as a means of protecting their upper-middle class bodies from the poor people of color outside. While bureaucratic processes and government entities pose obstacles for bicycle advocacy efforts, so do upper-middle class Angelinos who are unable to decenter driving or detach their classism/racism from biking.
Lugo makes some of her best arguments in Chapter 9: "Bicycle Gentrification," which discusses white bicycle advocates' aims to create bicycle infrastructure that, like general gentrification, advertently -- or inadvertently -- displaces Black and brown residents under the guise of "progress" and advancement. Here, Lugo effectively highlights the significance of an intersectional and multiracial approach, demonstrating the harms that can manifest as a result of a singular approach to environmental and community advocacy.
Later in the book, Lugo details her experience working at the League of American Bicyclists as it was burdened by the bureaucratic DC nonprofit scene. Such policy-based approaches, frustratingly slow processes, and deeply entrenched structures are incredibly relatable to me as a nonprofit worker based out of DC. While I understand Lugo's interest in building bicycle infrastructure through governmental means, it does seem rather at odds with her grassroots philosophy.
Overall an insightful discussion into intersectional bicycle advocacy, though slightly limited as it is filtered almost entirely through Lugo's personal experiences. Mainly, Lugo suggests that the bicycle advocacy world is in need of an overhaul where the needs of marginalized communities and bicyclists are not just an afterthought, but a central component and consideration of advocacy efforts. Efforts to tack bike paths onto existing car roads are not sustainable means of pushing the movement forward; the country's car-dominant structures and mentalities must be tackled at their core and dismantled in order for the populous to support and participate in bicycle systems. I'm interested in reading more about bicycle advocacy, particularly its interconnections with race and class.
July 10, 2020
I found this book unexpectedly as I began a job adjacent to urban planning (and read this tweet thread: https://twitter.com/rkbtwo/status/126...). The typical urban planning toolset of "community engagement" workshops and the like felt a little incomplete when it came to promoting equity in transportation and infrastructure.
Lugo's blend of memoir, ethnography, and history helped me start to find the language to describe this intuition of incompleteness. It certainly doesn't have (or claim to have) all the answers, but Lugo uses her liminal mestiza identity as a touchstone to help herself start to make sense of the difficulties of simultaneously advocating for racial/economic justice and the safety/environmental priorities of
bikers.
This touchstone serves her well as she moves from describing her family background and ethnographic project to organizing LA's Ciclovia (which is a huge event still!) to moving into multiracial organizing.
Sometimes the blend of genres is a little choppy and the book occasionally feels like it was written for an audience already some what versed in the issues she she touches on. Overall though, it's a (short) worthwhile read that uses bike advocacy as a relatable entryway to issues of gentrification, tokenization, and transportation justice.
Lugo's blend of memoir, ethnography, and history helped me start to find the language to describe this intuition of incompleteness. It certainly doesn't have (or claim to have) all the answers, but Lugo uses her liminal mestiza identity as a touchstone to help herself start to make sense of the difficulties of simultaneously advocating for racial/economic justice and the safety/environmental priorities of
bikers.
This touchstone serves her well as she moves from describing her family background and ethnographic project to organizing LA's Ciclovia (which is a huge event still!) to moving into multiracial organizing.
Sometimes the blend of genres is a little choppy and the book occasionally feels like it was written for an audience already some what versed in the issues she she touches on. Overall though, it's a (short) worthwhile read that uses bike advocacy as a relatable entryway to issues of gentrification, tokenization, and transportation justice.
August 13, 2018
This is much more memoir than research/analysis. If you're not conversant with the various forms of systemic racism that are woven throughout the biking and policy communities, the memoir will be eye-opening. But if you're already aware of that, this isn't a handbook for change; look elsewhere (perhaps to marginalized bikers in your community!) for that.
August 15, 2024
The last chapter or so is what made this a 5star read for me. Came away feeling so fired up and frustrated and mad but also maybe a little hopeful that people that care as much as we do actually exist??? Now whether they have any power at all is a whole other thing.. Also, in whichever city I move to next I NEED to prioritize finding colleagues/peers like this or I will truly not survive
October 7, 2020
Sometimes messy and rambling, but always necessary. No one else is saying these things. They need to be said.
January 21, 2024
After this book was recommended to me a second time I tracked down a copy. You can always tell how much I like a book by the amount of notes I take!! The author states: I knew I wanted to be an activist researcher. Climate change felt far too urgent for something as passive as simply trying to understand car culture’s contempt. I needed to fight it and help others fight it too. I thought that by putting myself out there as a bike commuter I was promoting bicycling as a possible transportation choice, one more sustainable than driving everywhere. I wanted to change street interactions, neutralize the aggression, so that more people could stop depending on fossil fuels to travel. I didn’t stop to consider whether other people would see racial justice as relevant to bicycling. From my bike I felt positioned to fight back against the legacy of colonial racism in my native land. Use urban planning as a social justice tool. One should survey low income and transportation dependent communities as they tend to be left out of efforts to influence public policy. Also make helmets and lights available to this community. Investing in human z so infrastructure is vital to sustainable transportation. The author states: forget funding bike lanes, what is needed are bike crews at every high school and stipends for people who repair bikes for kids in their neighborhood. We need to pay poor people for using bikes and being part of a growing network through more sustainable transportation cultures could flow. What more direct action could there be to disrupt the usual devaluation of people who use bikes to survive? The author wanted to change transportation culture and street design alone was not the tool for the job. She understands the purpose of street redesign is to make bicyclists feel safer so more people have more transportation options. I can feel a sense of strength I the do-it-yourself practice of being a bike commuter. I could see that feeling of strength on a bike was far outside the norm for people of color. We need to advocate for a multiracial public. Bike education is a means to fight oppression and biking is not an exclusive subculture. Bike repair cooperatives are social
Justice oriented programs- like the IC Bike Library! Somewhite people don’t yet see that biking is a racial and environmental justice issue. Some people resent the white bicyclists entitled attitude. The author sees biking as a form of liberation from destructive systems.
The most glaring evidence that bike advocacy was out of sync with justice- oriented movements lay in the rapidly growing association between gentrification and bike infrastructure. Lowering transportation costs by making it possible for people to get around on bikes would make their incomes more available for housing. Bicycling can be a tool for community resilience. Recreational cycling was a rich man’s pastime and bike infrastructure is becoming the code for “improving neighborhoods.” Had the bike movement jumped on the development bandwagon with no analysis of how it plays out in landscapes of inequality? Bicycling can be a way to disrupt inequality but many advocates are promoting bike gentrification.associating biking with whiteness and economic security also means to design spaces with new colonial urbanism. Green cycle tracks extend social division and call it social good. Focusing on urban design rather than the people that inhabit places naturalized their market driven displacement. Why does physical infrastructure need to come first? Advocates seem to want the public to view bicycling as something for normal (white or economically secure) people, and not something for the poor (who were probably black or brown). Increasing racial inclusion in the bike movement seemed like a way out of this corner. How do we influence bike advocacy to lobby for cross-cultural work? After all, using urban planning to rid cities of undesirables is nothing new. Women and people of color should be seen as important customers.
The association of biking and white entitlement is an old and enduring association. Racism in early biking has been overlooked because the private car quickly supplanted the bike as a mobile privilege machine. The bike then became suitable for the poor and juvenile.
Before we can effect change in transportation culture we needed to build human infrastructure across the divide that had made the bike movement into a white-centered space and that reverse white flight exposed. We need to increase diversity within bike advocacy which would lead to different interventions designed to address the root causes of street contempt. Is educating how to drive in traffic sufficient or is infrastructure necessary?
Justice oriented programs- like the IC Bike Library! Somewhite people don’t yet see that biking is a racial and environmental justice issue. Some people resent the white bicyclists entitled attitude. The author sees biking as a form of liberation from destructive systems.
The most glaring evidence that bike advocacy was out of sync with justice- oriented movements lay in the rapidly growing association between gentrification and bike infrastructure. Lowering transportation costs by making it possible for people to get around on bikes would make their incomes more available for housing. Bicycling can be a tool for community resilience. Recreational cycling was a rich man’s pastime and bike infrastructure is becoming the code for “improving neighborhoods.” Had the bike movement jumped on the development bandwagon with no analysis of how it plays out in landscapes of inequality? Bicycling can be a way to disrupt inequality but many advocates are promoting bike gentrification.associating biking with whiteness and economic security also means to design spaces with new colonial urbanism. Green cycle tracks extend social division and call it social good. Focusing on urban design rather than the people that inhabit places naturalized their market driven displacement. Why does physical infrastructure need to come first? Advocates seem to want the public to view bicycling as something for normal (white or economically secure) people, and not something for the poor (who were probably black or brown). Increasing racial inclusion in the bike movement seemed like a way out of this corner. How do we influence bike advocacy to lobby for cross-cultural work? After all, using urban planning to rid cities of undesirables is nothing new. Women and people of color should be seen as important customers.
The association of biking and white entitlement is an old and enduring association. Racism in early biking has been overlooked because the private car quickly supplanted the bike as a mobile privilege machine. The bike then became suitable for the poor and juvenile.
Before we can effect change in transportation culture we needed to build human infrastructure across the divide that had made the bike movement into a white-centered space and that reverse white flight exposed. We need to increase diversity within bike advocacy which would lead to different interventions designed to address the root causes of street contempt. Is educating how to drive in traffic sufficient or is infrastructure necessary?
July 16, 2020
This book sheds a lot of light on the important relationship between equity and mobility. It also discusses the important concept of human infrastructure. Mobility is not all about physical infrastructure, and often the human component and the equity component do not get the very necessary attention they deserve. Specifically, the book talks a lot about the lack of racial equity in bicycle advocacy and bicycle mobility projects. Some parts were a little difficult to read, but overall I learned a lot from reading the book.
May 11, 2019
I didn't expect to have such an emotional reaction to this book. As a peer in the active transportation sector, I expected to see another esoteric, jargon filled book filled with research on equity in Southern California. I didn't expect to find such a personal, narrative-driven conversational tour through Ms. Lugo's life, where she creates history everywhere she goes. She happens to help start the only collective to ever organize bicycle-riding day laborers in urban LA, which is now the successful nonprofit, People for Mobility Justice.
She traveled to Bogota, Colombia's to study the Ciclovia movement. Not ready to just leave it on paper, she went back to LA and along with others, started CicLAvia, which still regularly draws 100,000 people. Her badaasery got her a fancy job in DC, running the equity initiative at a national bicycle nonprofit. She was pigeonhold by an organization not ready for change, and she quit after only one year, bringing the nation of bicycle advocates with her. The organization is still having a hard time after she left.
Her humble narrative brings us along, showing the importance of including all of us not only in planning active transportation infrastructure, but in creating social movements across the world. She is still going and we are all lucky she brings us along with her on the journey.
She traveled to Bogota, Colombia's to study the Ciclovia movement. Not ready to just leave it on paper, she went back to LA and along with others, started CicLAvia, which still regularly draws 100,000 people. Her badaasery got her a fancy job in DC, running the equity initiative at a national bicycle nonprofit. She was pigeonhold by an organization not ready for change, and she quit after only one year, bringing the nation of bicycle advocates with her. The organization is still having a hard time after she left.
Her humble narrative brings us along, showing the importance of including all of us not only in planning active transportation infrastructure, but in creating social movements across the world. She is still going and we are all lucky she brings us along with her on the journey.
May 1, 2021
Very good. Talks about the "human infrastructure" of bicycling. Calls out how white and male-dominated the cycling world is. Makes me reflect on my own privilege. Makes me think about the huge pelotons of rich white guys who ride around Greenwich on the weekends vs. what Lugo calls "invisible riders" - often low-income, often PoC, often not-helmeted, riding on sidewalks. Different types of riders. Riders who don't want to ride in the street because they don't want to interact with police. Riders who might be undocumented. She also calls out the rhetoric from politicians and bike advocates who call for attracting "talent" into a neighborhood by building bike lanes. Lugo critiqued that line of argument - calling it gentrification, rich white 20 and 30 something guys who have tech jobs. But if people move into a neighborhood, other people must move out. So who are these "undesirables" who are moved out?
"Race and mobility are intertwined because we designed segregation into our built environments and how we police them, and racial equity in the distribution of public money isn't a metaphor or a goal you opt into; it's a legal obligation, thanks to the civil rights movement." [p. 190]
"Race and mobility are intertwined because we designed segregation into our built environments and how we police them, and racial equity in the distribution of public money isn't a metaphor or a goal you opt into; it's a legal obligation, thanks to the civil rights movement." [p. 190]
December 26, 2018
A solidly documented analysis of race and racism in the American bike movement. Adonis Lugo draws the problematic parallels between active transportation development and displacement while identifying the richly diverse context of bicycling in America, particularly those overlooked by traditional bike advocates. Lugo plainly challenges what has been the conventional thought leadership in national, as well as local, bike advocacy in a way that I hope will spur conversations and cultural change.
March 3, 2019
An absolute must-read for those working to advance sustainable urban systems (particularly white professionals) that have for too long been unable or unwilling to acknowledge the role we play in gentrification. Lugo advances the idea of investing in human infrastructure above design-based bicycle facility solutions that often do not reflect the history and interests of the people they are intended to serve.
August 22, 2020
I love how Dr. Lugo frames the narrative through a memoir lens. While the book focuses on bicycle advocacy, I found it very useful to me in helping me think about my work as a transportation professional, even though I generally focus on other modes.
May 2, 2025
Remarkably little real material analysis despite gestures towards such. Basically a complaint that we shouldn’t advocate for infrastructure because we should think more about cultural-sociological-colonial legacies and the histories of racism and classism. Ok, what if we have considered those things and believe bicycle advocacy should include safer infrastructure to protect the vulnerable road users who have no choice but to bike, the very people the author identifies as being the most central members of the biking public. She simultaneously wants to maintain the “only white people ride bikes” stereotype with “actually; mostly people of color ride bikes”. Which is it? Wouldn’t safer infrastructure protect both of those groups? People want infrastructure improvements because we are killed and maimed every day (which the author admits). I’ve been seriously hit on my bike twice—can I not seek safer streets in response to this? I think that people who ride bikes because they (financially) do not have another option (such as myself) shouldn’t have to bike on the sidewalk because otherwise they will be targeted to intentional, often racialized, violence.
Freeway removal is unreasonable as urban progress because it doesn’t recognize the damage done by highways to historic communities of color? Says who? Everyone I’ve ever talked to about this subject names the destruction of Black and Latinx communities as basically the number one sin of freeway construction throughout the mid century. Also, shouldn’t we still want to remove those destructive elements for that reason alone, let alone the ecological and safety reasons?
Also, there’s like virtually no theory throughout this text. It’s all anecdotes and basically memoir that feels largely paternalistic in its treatment of marginalized communities. I feel like this would be a great book for your average New York Times liberal. But in my experience biking communities are the most racial, class, and gender diverse spaces I’ve ever seen. So what’s with these repeated attempts to “gotcha” about how no one who talks about biking knows anything about race. I don’t know. What do I know. I can’t bike because I have Lyme arthritis in my knee and it’s killing me.
Freeway removal is unreasonable as urban progress because it doesn’t recognize the damage done by highways to historic communities of color? Says who? Everyone I’ve ever talked to about this subject names the destruction of Black and Latinx communities as basically the number one sin of freeway construction throughout the mid century. Also, shouldn’t we still want to remove those destructive elements for that reason alone, let alone the ecological and safety reasons?
Also, there’s like virtually no theory throughout this text. It’s all anecdotes and basically memoir that feels largely paternalistic in its treatment of marginalized communities. I feel like this would be a great book for your average New York Times liberal. But in my experience biking communities are the most racial, class, and gender diverse spaces I’ve ever seen. So what’s with these repeated attempts to “gotcha” about how no one who talks about biking knows anything about race. I don’t know. What do I know. I can’t bike because I have Lyme arthritis in my knee and it’s killing me.
October 18, 2023
As someone who has been interested in the active transportation movement for quite some time and coming from a Latino background, this book resonated a lot with me personally. Even beyond the aspects specifically regarding transportation, I was able to connect with the discussion regarding growing up mixed race while trying to understand my place in different spaces.
Many of the aspects of equity in transit that are discussed I understood implicitly before reading, though this book was great for corroborating my underlying thoughts about the role whiteness has played in reframing the bike advocacy movement in favor of being an urban redevelopment or gentrification or recreation tool as opposed to being a means for a revolution in mobility centering those who depend on bicycles.
The discussion of how privileged voices, even in the public and active transportation space, has continued to overshadow the interests and needs of the marginalized was quite poignant but important. The conclusion to this book was rather disappointing (not a reflection on the book's quality itself; rather, I'm commenting on the circumstances) and it's clear that there's still a lot of work to be done in even beginning to convince mainstream (white) bike/transit advocacy about the importance of the conversation of race equity in transit (really this is true in so many other areas of policy and it's interesting to see the parallel drawn here in this book).
On a more positive note: CicLAvia! I LOVE this event and I was so happy to read about the history regarding its implementation in LA. The book is definitely a great case study in introducing these kind of open street events to other cities.
Overall, as someone who grew up in the greater LA metro region, it was interesting to read about the city from this kind of perspective and how her experiences in other cities impacted her advocacy in LA. 5 stars.
Many of the aspects of equity in transit that are discussed I understood implicitly before reading, though this book was great for corroborating my underlying thoughts about the role whiteness has played in reframing the bike advocacy movement in favor of being an urban redevelopment or gentrification or recreation tool as opposed to being a means for a revolution in mobility centering those who depend on bicycles.
The discussion of how privileged voices, even in the public and active transportation space, has continued to overshadow the interests and needs of the marginalized was quite poignant but important. The conclusion to this book was rather disappointing (not a reflection on the book's quality itself; rather, I'm commenting on the circumstances) and it's clear that there's still a lot of work to be done in even beginning to convince mainstream (white) bike/transit advocacy about the importance of the conversation of race equity in transit (really this is true in so many other areas of policy and it's interesting to see the parallel drawn here in this book).
On a more positive note: CicLAvia! I LOVE this event and I was so happy to read about the history regarding its implementation in LA. The book is definitely a great case study in introducing these kind of open street events to other cities.
Overall, as someone who grew up in the greater LA metro region, it was interesting to read about the city from this kind of perspective and how her experiences in other cities impacted her advocacy in LA. 5 stars.
January 1, 2025
A+ book to demonstrate the powers of self reflection, engaging with history, and engaging with complexity in social change issues!!!
This is such a work of love that shares so much of the authors heart and extremely personal story -- and it works. Plus, the personal stories are really well woven into the meta narrative, helping make the connections between cultures of racism and segregation clear across contexts -- they're not just a disclosure to explain an authors positionality, they're critical to telling an accurate, historically-grounded story. I wish more academically minded books were written like this.
Such an interesting book to listen to while riding in a car! I only felt self aware of the irony when the author quoted someone comparing driving a car to watching TV, feeling safely apart from the world beyond the glass.
Learned a lot about how the privatization of travel is so tied to fears of racial integration -- white people not wanting to have to see POC.
Chapters 4 & 6 include some especially great lessons about participatory research, inclusive events, and collective input into urban planning!!
Chapter 8 demonstrated a lot of issues people bring up when you want to take a codesign approach to a social issue rather than copy and pasting a solution from another prior project
Chapter 10 was very beautiful, reflective, and poetic with lessons for all academics and activists to take with them.
This is such a work of love that shares so much of the authors heart and extremely personal story -- and it works. Plus, the personal stories are really well woven into the meta narrative, helping make the connections between cultures of racism and segregation clear across contexts -- they're not just a disclosure to explain an authors positionality, they're critical to telling an accurate, historically-grounded story. I wish more academically minded books were written like this.
Such an interesting book to listen to while riding in a car! I only felt self aware of the irony when the author quoted someone comparing driving a car to watching TV, feeling safely apart from the world beyond the glass.
Learned a lot about how the privatization of travel is so tied to fears of racial integration -- white people not wanting to have to see POC.
Chapters 4 & 6 include some especially great lessons about participatory research, inclusive events, and collective input into urban planning!!
Chapter 8 demonstrated a lot of issues people bring up when you want to take a codesign approach to a social issue rather than copy and pasting a solution from another prior project
Chapter 10 was very beautiful, reflective, and poetic with lessons for all academics and activists to take with them.
October 3, 2020
I really enjoyed the author's perspective on growing up as someone who is non-white and experiencing transportation from the perspective of walking and bicycling within a system that clearly was not designed for it.
It's very clear that those are who designing our streets have pretty large blind spots in regards to how different groups of people use the street and need the street to function. I think they are well intentioned, but their own perspectives and experiences are not complete, and their efforts to reach out to or represent others are not as effective as they may think.
I enjoyed the author's storytelling style, which helps you to understand her lived experiences. I like that it wasn't just about streets either, but about how certain groups of people are viewed and treated by society. Making our streets safer is more than just about putting in bike lanes or crosswalks.
My only complaint about the book is that I had hoped there would be more concrete takeaways, for advocates and for those who work in the private and public sector around transportation. As an advocate myself, I'm struggling a bit with what I need to do to help improve the situations that she has described.
It's very clear that those are who designing our streets have pretty large blind spots in regards to how different groups of people use the street and need the street to function. I think they are well intentioned, but their own perspectives and experiences are not complete, and their efforts to reach out to or represent others are not as effective as they may think.
I enjoyed the author's storytelling style, which helps you to understand her lived experiences. I like that it wasn't just about streets either, but about how certain groups of people are viewed and treated by society. Making our streets safer is more than just about putting in bike lanes or crosswalks.
My only complaint about the book is that I had hoped there would be more concrete takeaways, for advocates and for those who work in the private and public sector around transportation. As an advocate myself, I'm struggling a bit with what I need to do to help improve the situations that she has described.
December 1, 2025
Mind-opening perspective on how the movement to make cities better for biking has grown out of the same systems that divide us.
Argues that changing the social culture around biking in a way that's inclusive of marginalized communities is actually more important than physical infrastructure that white bicycle advocates have historically focused on. Building this 'human infrastructure' means building a culture across the city where people see and know people who look like them who bike. Riding a bike is easier if you know other people who ride bikes; growing the coalition is the most effective way to make biking safer and make communities better places to bike in.
Interesting specifics early on about Lugo's work in LA (founding CicLAvia and working on City of Lights). Focus on connecting with 'survival cyclists', people (often brown/black) who bike not by choice but by economic need and aren't included in the traditional biking advocacy community.
Argues that changing the social culture around biking in a way that's inclusive of marginalized communities is actually more important than physical infrastructure that white bicycle advocates have historically focused on. Building this 'human infrastructure' means building a culture across the city where people see and know people who look like them who bike. Riding a bike is easier if you know other people who ride bikes; growing the coalition is the most effective way to make biking safer and make communities better places to bike in.
Interesting specifics early on about Lugo's work in LA (founding CicLAvia and working on City of Lights). Focus on connecting with 'survival cyclists', people (often brown/black) who bike not by choice but by economic need and aren't included in the traditional biking advocacy community.
June 30, 2021
I do like a good pro-cycling book, but I'm not sure about how I feel about this book.
For one thing, it's largely autobiographical, and I rarely read biographies - especially about someone that I had never heard of before.
Lugo's thesis - literally, her PhD. thesis - is that bicycle advocacy is overwhelmingly done by and for middle-class white people. That's probably true, by and large, and more diversity could probably be beneficial. I'm not sure that you need a whole book to say that.
I'm also not sure what I'm meant to take away from arguments like: (1) it's bad that bike paths are not put in poor areas, and (2) it's bad when bike paths *are* put in poor areas because that drives gentrification.
For one thing, it's largely autobiographical, and I rarely read biographies - especially about someone that I had never heard of before.
Lugo's thesis - literally, her PhD. thesis - is that bicycle advocacy is overwhelmingly done by and for middle-class white people. That's probably true, by and large, and more diversity could probably be beneficial. I'm not sure that you need a whole book to say that.
I'm also not sure what I'm meant to take away from arguments like: (1) it's bad that bike paths are not put in poor areas, and (2) it's bad when bike paths *are* put in poor areas because that drives gentrification.
January 15, 2024
I know nothing about bicycles or public transportation and this book tied my understanding of systemic racism to this unknown topic. This is an important book to sit with. It didn't take more than a few hours to read, I couldn't put it down. I also acquired historical and infrastructural knowledge of Southern California through it and a greater understanding of what exactly bike advocacy can look like and how changing roads is not really the way to make biking an equitable option and ignores the human part of biking.
I'd love to know more about environmental justice/transportation from a disabled perspective since biking is not accessible for many people.
Highly recommend this book! Please read it.
I'd love to know more about environmental justice/transportation from a disabled perspective since biking is not accessible for many people.
Highly recommend this book! Please read it.
December 14, 2021
Found this book recommendation for bike commuters on twitter and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to read it. The book provides a thorough overview of the bike advocacy movement and highlights the authors journey in bringing more racial inclusion to biking and the barriers that they faced. Due to its scholarly nature, it took me longer to get through than a fiction book of the same size, and given the importance of the topics covered, I wanted to make sure I was giving it 100% of my attention and brain power. Recommended for anyone in and outside the bike community who is interested in social and transportation justice!
January 4, 2025
I mean, it was good but it had some glaring issues. I have infinite respect for the author because we are of the same ethnic composition, but my problem with the book is that it's much more autobiographical than I was hoping for. The highs of the book were really good and her speaking to how white modern bicycling/urban infrastructure movements are is a very important subject in the advocacy/professional world of city planning, but only a small portion of the book is wholly dedicated to that discussion. The rest of it is about the life and times of Dr. Lugo, which is fine, but the book should be presented a little more accurately.
September 30, 2020
I find myself reading all of this US bicycle literature as a result of being unable (due to the pandemic) to really get involved with anything on the ground here. I can't say how much of this book is transferrable to different infrastructures/attitudes/policies in different countries (indeed, so much of it was variable between the different US cities mentioned in this book) but one thing remains clear, both in the US and in Western Europe: White supremacy reaches virtually everywhere, and intersectionality MUST be the way forward.
May 19, 2021
The book observes a racial disparity between who is cycling vs. who is a spokesperson for cycling. For some, bicycle is an affordable mode of transportation, others enjoy pleasure riding. Bicycle advocacy often does not represent these interests equitably. Arguing for improved bicycle infrastructure does not necessarily serve all cyclists. For example, it may contribute to property price growth and gentrification. Alternatively (and perhaps more cheaply) we may build a "human infrastructure" to repurpose our existing transport infrastructure to make it inclusive for all.
September 10, 2021
Adonia E. Lugo tells of her career looking to make biking more inclusive. The bike industry and culture in the US remains focused on white dudes in spandex going on weekend rides down mountains or on roads, while people who actually bike is a very diverse group. Lugo highlights that many folks using bikes need the bike for transportation and are not seen, wether intentionally or not. Transportation is an equity issue. Highly recommend for any bike folks, urban planning folks, or folks interested in gaining new perspectives!
December 11, 2022
The book describes crucial issues about equity in cycling policy, advocacy and the overall understanding of what and how cycling is and could be promoted… in the US. The section about Bogotá is, to my mind, weak and mostly one-sided. But the overall argument and the story is really useful and well presented. I would like to see books like this presenting research done on equity and cycling in Latin America, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of this is applicable but also would expect lots of things to be very different.
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