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作者

Dillon Mahmoudi;Amy Lubitow;Mackenzie A. Christensen

来源

URBAN GEOGRAPHY,Vol.41,Issue6,P.801-822

语言

英文

关键字

Sustainability fix,mobility justice,spatial equity,bicycle planning

作者单位

Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland Baltimore County , Baltimore, MD, USA

摘要

We explore how the language of “just sustainability” may become subsumed into a sustainability fix strategy, depoliticizing the utility of concepts such as justice and/or equity. Building from critical GIS insights, we combine digitized spatial data from participatory mapping exercises and community-organization-based focus group in Portland, Oregon, regarding a proposed six-mile biking and walking path around downtown. We find that 80 percent of participants’ typical travel destinations are outside of downtown Portland and that participants experience planning and sustainability in a highly localized manner, challenging the equity rationale of downtown investment. We argue the top-down planning model, which presumes that the spatial diffusion of benefits is equitable, is inherently ahistorical and fails to benefit those in historically marginalized neighborhoods. Finally, we argue for the value of community-oriented research, which, in this case, inspired a coalition of community organizations to formally oppose a city-led project based on the inequitable distribution of infrastructure benefits. KEYWORDS: Sustainability fixmobility justicespatial equitybicycle planning Acknowledgments The authors are grateful for the many students whose labor made this community-engaged research possible: Nathan Rochester, Emma Deppa, Raquel Nasser, and Kyla Tompkins. The research team would like to thank Beth Gilden and Fletcher Beaudoin of ISS, The Rosewood Initiative, Community Cycling Center, Hacienda CDC, Rose CDC, The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon and The Multnomah County Library (particularly the Kenton, Gregory Heights, and Midland Branches) and the audience at the Boston meeting of American Association of Geographers. Finally, we are grateful to members of the Human Geography Roundtable at UMBC, Ingrid Behrsin, Tara Goddard, Jamaal Green, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. All errors are our own. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University, as part of the Portland Climate Action Collaborative. Correction Statement This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.