Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that impact the culture of bicycling and the bicycle infrastructure of American cities. This study explores factors such as the history of cities, communicative cities, the history of bicycling, and why people choose to ride their bicycles. Past research on bicycle infrastructure has often been quantitative, focusing on numbers of collisions, though literature on cities and culture provided an important foundation on which to base this study. This research extended scholarship on the factors that exist within cities that shape how bicycle infrastructure is constructed and prioritized within cities, specifically focusing on Owensboro, Kentucky and Davis, California. The findings reveled that the physically built environment, the culture of residents, and the actions of the local governments are three of the most important factors in determining the presence of bicycle infrastructure within different cities. A major implication of this study is that a city’s prioritization to create more bicycle infrastructure is heavily dependent on how it thinks it can provide the most benefit to its citizens as well as the existing sentiments toward bicycling.

Advisor

Atay, Ahmet

Department

Communication Studies

Disciplines

Critical and Cultural Studies | Environmental Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Keywords

Bicycle infrastructure, communicative cities, urban studies, urban transportation, urban planning

Publication Date

2016

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

Download

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2016 Andrew P. Martinek