Urban Bicycle Infrastructure and Gentrification: A Quantitative Assessment of 46 American Cities

In recent years, cities across the United States have expanded their bicycle infrastructure. In some instances, community members and local politicians have criticized these developments and noted a link between bicycle lanes and gentrification. In response, recent studies have assessed the quantitative associations between bicycle infrastructure and gentrification in a few large cities. Their results have been mixed but generally support residents' claims of linkages between gentrification and bike infrastructure. However, research is often limited to a handful of large central cities, mostly in the United States. This thesis assessed the associations between gentrification and bicycle infrastructure such as bike lanes and off-street trails and paths in 46 large American cities. Specifically, it used contemporary municipal bicycle infrastructure data aggregated to the census tract level. It conducted multivariate regression analyses to identify the cross-sectional associations between gentrification and other socio-economic indicators and the presence of bike infrastructure. It compared these associations by city size and geographic region. It found substantial evidence that gentrifying tracts had higher rates of cycling infrastructure relative to disadvantaged, non-gentrifying tracts. This trend was less pronounced in America's largest 5 cities, and there was substantial regional variation in both infrastructure coverage and relative levels when comparing gentrifying, non-gentrifying, and advantaged tracts.