A polemic might be a good thing. Don't shy from it.
I first heard the term "transportation colonialism" in a 1989 pamphlet from the International Biking Fund.
There are three aspects to transportation colonialism. First is top-down approach you describe effectively. Second is the result of developing countries literally copying and/or accepting as "developed" the infrastructure models of their (former) colonial rulers. Third is the ongoing psychology were people in the Global South continue to adopt the transportation aspirations of foreign cultures – specifically: private cars as status symbols. Here in Madagascar, a car is a conspicuous badge of honor signaling to your family and friends that you have made it into the middle class (or even a more elite class) – definitely the top 5 percent.
To frame these as forms of "colonialism" decodes all of the phenomena in a single word.
I belatedly ran across a 2020 special issue of the Journal of Transport Geography on "Decolonial approaches to urban transport geographies." The editors' intro covers similar points:
"The goal of this special issue is to argue for decolonial perspectives on urban transport, and to begin exploring them empirically. The point of departure for this endeavour is our observation that northern thinking continues to underpin transport geography, limiting the development of the academic field as well as opportunities for locally-derived innovation in diverse localities across the global south and north.
"At least three dynamics of knowledge production, which we perceive to be particularly prevailing in the field, support this claim. First, we argue that while informative, the existing scholarship in transport geography has drawn chiefly on expertise produced and modelled in the global north (Schwanen, 2018a). Second, we contend that transport geography continues to build upon neoclassical approaches that emphasize economic efficiency, rationality and utility, and further frame the discipline as technocentric and apolitical (Kębłowski and Bassens, 2018). Third, transport geography still predominantly envisions urban transport as a matter that is organised formally and regulated by the state."
Ben i am getting myself out of the newsletter, apologies more than condescending I am also getting uncivil and unpolite.
You can always just stop before you press "post" your comment or reply.
That’s true. Thanks
A polemic might be a good thing. Don't shy from it.
I first heard the term "transportation colonialism" in a 1989 pamphlet from the International Biking Fund.
There are three aspects to transportation colonialism. First is top-down approach you describe effectively. Second is the result of developing countries literally copying and/or accepting as "developed" the infrastructure models of their (former) colonial rulers. Third is the ongoing psychology were people in the Global South continue to adopt the transportation aspirations of foreign cultures – specifically: private cars as status symbols. Here in Madagascar, a car is a conspicuous badge of honor signaling to your family and friends that you have made it into the middle class (or even a more elite class) – definitely the top 5 percent.
To frame these as forms of "colonialism" decodes all of the phenomena in a single word.
Thanks, Ted.
I belatedly ran across a 2020 special issue of the Journal of Transport Geography on "Decolonial approaches to urban transport geographies." The editors' intro covers similar points:
"The goal of this special issue is to argue for decolonial perspectives on urban transport, and to begin exploring them empirically. The point of departure for this endeavour is our observation that northern thinking continues to underpin transport geography, limiting the development of the academic field as well as opportunities for locally-derived innovation in diverse localities across the global south and north.
"At least three dynamics of knowledge production, which we perceive to be particularly prevailing in the field, support this claim. First, we argue that while informative, the existing scholarship in transport geography has drawn chiefly on expertise produced and modelled in the global north (Schwanen, 2018a). Second, we contend that transport geography continues to build upon neoclassical approaches that emphasize economic efficiency, rationality and utility, and further frame the discipline as technocentric and apolitical (Kębłowski and Bassens, 2018). Third, transport geography still predominantly envisions urban transport as a matter that is organised formally and regulated by the state."
Intro available here: https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/71615/ssoar-transpgeogr-2020-wood_et_al-Decolonial_approaches_to_urban_transport.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
I think I know what the next blog post from Trufi Association will be about...
I think that despite living in Madagascar you are a nuts.
You're crossing a line here, Dr. Fabianski
Let's keep the conversation civil.
Sorry 😹
hello, In Mexico have a program that could match as example for this topic. https://www.gob.mx/caminosrurales
Thanks for the tip, Roberto. Are they just doing road building? Or are there vehicles, too?