Wheels of Justice : An overview of cycling infrastructure and social justice in Malmö

Abstract: Bikes and cycling infrastructure have a relationship with social justice. As a transportation mode they are often viewed as democratic due to their relatively low cost and barrier of entry. However, other factors such as family size, socio-economic disparities, and cultural barriers also exist. These often-overlooked social factors disproportionately affect immigrants. In Sweden there is no official responsibility placed on governing bodies or schools to provide cycling lessons which leaves it up to individuals themselves or the civil sector to do so. In the rational planning ideal ‘soft’ interventions have been deprioritised by Malmö municipality (Malmö stad) even though they previously excelled at such social measures. This thesis has triangulated multiple sources of information/data using several methods: a document study, a semi-structured interview study, a GIS study, and a field study. From the gathered data and reference literature we analysed our findings through a social justice perspective. Though many definitions of social justice exist, we operated from a geographic lens, placing an emphasis on who has access to what and where, while also focusing on the removal of obstacles for people to reach their full potential (Mayhew, 2015). Our findings show that the rational planning ideal in its goal to avoid racism by a ‘colour blind’ approach instead manages to render certain disadvantaged groups invisible, namely foreign-born residents of low socio-economic status.