The rise and fall of Adrian Fenty, Mayor-Triathlete: cycling, gentrification and class politics in Washington DC

Abstract

Promoting cycling and building bike lanes would seem to be an uncontroversial way for progressive mayors to build up their ‘green’ and ‘smart city’ reputations. After all, cycling promotes health, reduces traffic and fights global warming. Yet, surprisingly, it was former Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty’s enthusiasm for building bike lanes that, at least in part, brought his once-promising political career to a sudden end in 2010. Drawing on a synthesis of Bourdieu’s field theory and Stuart Hall’s concept of articulation, this article offers a case study of cycling and class politics in Washington DC. In particular, this article examines how, during the 2010 Mayoral election, cycling became articulated with wider struggles over gentrification and race. A concluding section draws on the case to argue that Hall’s concept of articulation offers a useful corrective for the subtle bias toward social reproduction in Bourdieu’s theory of social fields.