This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the civic and political effects of two public transportation systems on efforts to deal with issues related to urban fragmentation. The research project will provide new insights regarding how urban designers and planners understand the built-environment technologies they develop and deploy and how the everyday politics of infrastructural use are based on different sets of motivations. The project will assess the viability of transportation projects as technological solutions to problems of urban fragmentation, providing new perspectives on an issues evident in cities in both developing and developed nations, including the U.S. Because the project will directly engage planners, designers, and engineers, it should assist in identifying and sharing "best practices" to improve the evaluation techniques they employ when designing new systems. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
Under the guidance of Prof Bruce P. Braun, doctoral student Laura Cesafsky will conduct this project through a detailed examination of the two public transportation systems built in Bogota, Colombia, in the early 2000s: a "gold standard" bus rapid transit system and an expansive network of separated bicycleways. The student will gather data regarding system use as well as information from, interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and archival research to evaluate the history of these systems' funding, repair, and management as well as the public controversies they have engendered
