May 24, 2022
Neighborhood walking tours, group bike rides, and organized
strolls in the park aren't typically thought of as front-line
strategies to break a city's dependence on automobiles. Some
advocates argue that without events like them, though, U.S.
neighborhoods will never transform into truly
people-centered places — particularly in socially and racially
marginalized communities.
On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down
with Olatunji Oboi Reed, president and CEO of Equiticity, to
talk about what he and his colleagues calls "community
mobility rituals," or regular, free, hyper-local events that
dismantle barriers to sustainable transportation and build the
social infrastructure that neighborhoods need. Along the way, we
chat about what makes a "mobility ritual" different than your
standard-issue Critical Mass ride, why white-dominated
transportation authorities tend to overlook the power of community
programs, and how mobility rituals might be integrated into the
planning process itself.
Listen in, check out Equiticity's webinar
series on community mobility rituals here.