Mobility, citizenship, and inequality: analyzing the cycling infrastructure of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of citizenship is related to that of urban mobility, which unfolds in bicycle mobility. To this end, the distribution of the cycling infrastructure in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is analyzed. The aim is to relate the socio-spatial distribution of the population in the territory to the available cycling infrastructure. The extension and quality of such infrastructure is investigated in two neighborhoods that are different both in territorial and social terms (Bangu and Copacabana). The results show a concentration of cycling infrastructure of greater extension and quality in Rio de Janeiro’s highest-income neighborhoods (Copacabana) and of lesser extension and quality in the periphery (Bangu), and the difference in existence, extension, and quality of Rio de Janeiro’s cycling infrastructures is related to greater or lesser citizenship.