Colorblind transit planning: Modern streetcars in Washington, DC, and New Orleans

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes case studies of the H Street Streetcar in Washington, DC, and the Rampart Streetcar in New Orleans, two newly built U.S. streetcars that are part of a national trend of modern streetcar investments. We situate these investments within state-led gentrification that exacerbates racial disparities by expanding White privilege in Black neighborhoods and reshaping racial geographies. While supporters rationalize streetcars as economic development strategies, we contextualize modern streetcars within a broader framework of colorblind neoliberalism. We advance the concept of colorblind transit planning to codify a critique of current practices and advance an argument that colorblind transit planning minimizes the ongoing salience of institutionalized racism and exacerbates existing racial geographies and experiences of race, symbolically and materially reproducing a city of exclusion. Our findings caution against further public investment in streetcars, as they contribute to state-led gentrification and private accumulation, rather than address unequal modern public transit systems.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago for funding support, Joshua Inwood for comments on previous drafts and Jessica Colvin for creating the two maps that accompany our paper.

Notes

1. The National Environmental Policy Act requires environmental assessments or environmental impact statements for projects receiving federal funds. However, some of the streetcar segments were funded entirely with local funds and thus there were not associated EA/EIS documents. These documents address race in environmental justice sections.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Notes on contributors

Anna Livia Brand

Anna Livia Brand’s research focuses on the historical development and contemporary planning challenges in Black mecca neighborhoods in the American North and South. She is investigating how redevelopment paradigms in the 21st century reflect ongoing racialization and her work interrogates the gendered, racialized and resistant constructions of the built environment over time. Anna received her PhD in Urban Planning from MIT, her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans and her Bachelor of Architecture from Tulane University. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kate Lowe

Kate Lowe studies transportation at the intersection of policy, funding, and social equity. Her work examines how varied stakeholders and transportation policies interact across different levels of government and how this impacts transportation investments. She also studies the transportation perspectives and experiences of low-income populations and Black and Brown communities. Kate received a PhD in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University, a MA in Community Development and Planning from Clark University, and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Bard College.

Em Hall

Em Hall is a PhD student in Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on the role of nonprofit organizations in transportation public-private partnerships (P3s) in transportation. Em earned a Public Transit Planning & Management Certificate from UIC. She also holds Masters degrees in Philanthropic Studies and U.S. History from Indiana University. She earned her BA with honors in Political Science from the University of Chicago.