Reflective Writing Prompt3

Senior Capstone--Grant Writing: Bicycle Transportation Alliance

Knepler

Due: April 26, 2011

Readings (available online and on D2L) under Week 5:

  • Community Cycling Center, “Understanding Barriers to Bicycling: Interim Report”
  • “How a Local Non-Profit Is Breaking Down Biking’s Color Barrier” BikePortland. April 19, 2010.
  • Catherine R. Emond et. al. “Explaining Gender Differences in Bicycling Behavior.” Transportation Research Record. Volume 2125, 2009. (Available on D2L)
  • Linda Baker. “How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road: To Boost urban bicycling, figure out what women want.” Scientific American, October 16, 2009.

Prompt:

For your third reflecting writing assignment, I am offering two options. You should choose one option, or feel free to combine the options in a way that is meaningful to you. Both options require that you cite specifics from both the readings and other experiences/materials you might have encountered.

Remember that this reflective writing is not due until Week 5. To remind yourself of the guidelines for reflective writing prompts, do reread the description in the class syllabus. Reflective writing assignments should be typed, double-spaced, using times new roman font, and be 2-3 pages in length. Reflective writing assignments should be submitted to D2L dropbox for that week’s assignment by 10 a.m. on the day they are due. Late papers will be marked down two points for each day they are late unless you have received an extension prior to the due date.

Option 1

Based on your experiences, the readings, class discussion, and other materials you may have encountered, what do you see as the most significant barriers to bicycling or walking, particularly as they relate to issues of gender, race, ethnicity and/or socio-economic class? You can address both bicycling and walking if you’d like. You can also connect issues of gender, race, ethnicity and/or socio-economic class to issues of place/space, architecture, and planning.

Feel free to use narrative and tell a story from your own experience, but do make sure to also apply specific examples from the readings for Week 5.

Option 2

Take a trip to two different neighborhoods or areas that you see as providing varying access to bicycling or walking. You can also really on memory to compare, say, the place you grew up to a neighborhood or area you now frequent. Drawing from your comparison, the readings, and class discussions, what do you see as accounting for those differences? Also, what do you see as the impact of those differences? Make sure to give a clear sense of the area, either through your own description or other information/statistics you may have gathered.