MASS TRANSIT, SOCIAL INEQUALITIES AND BRT-DRIVEN (IM) MOBILITIES IN BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA

Abstract

The chapter examines how investments in urban public transport infrastructure can help reconfigure urban spaces and urban mobility practices in a second-tier city in Latin America. Drawing on a well-being framework and using the case of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) launched in 2010 in the Metropolitan Area of Barranquilla (AMBAQ), Colombia, we outline the socio-economic, spatial, urban, and mobility characteristics of the city’s population and how these have been shaped by local transportation. The chapter discusses the role of urban transportation as de facto urban development policy, comparing the distributional effects of proximity to infrastructure and the coherence between stated policy objectives and observable changes in the city’s development trajectory. The research draws on primary quantitative (a questionnaire survey in low-income neighbourhoods) and qualitative evidence (semi-structured interviews and workshops with local stakeholders from the private and public sector). Findings suggest that mass public transport investments have socially and spatially differentiated effects while also appearing to help consolidate potentially inequitable development trajectories