Adonia Lugo is an urban anthropologist who studies the conflicting, complex ways that people inhabit cities and streets. She uses bicycling, walking, and riding transit as embodied methods for observing the racialized and classed power dynamics of urban space. Her approach draws on the tradition of flânerie and the Situationist International’s call for political action in public space, blended with feminist critical theory’s situated knowledge. Dr. Lugo believes that cross-cultural understanding and respect for diverse realities are central to furthering urban sustainability.

In her 2013 dissertation, “Body-City-Machines: Human Infrastructure for Bicycling in Los Angeles,” Adonia analyzed the history of L.A. bike activism and her own role as a participant in it. The concept of “human infrastructure” focuses on the materiality of individual actions, social networks, and cultural attitudes, which is revealed in situations where physical infrastructures fail. In Los Angeles, a city known for its freeways, social networks and multiple urbanisms (especially Latin@ urbanism) are transforming streets.

From 2008 till 2011, Adonia lived carfree as an engaged researcher studying and organizing bicycle projects in L.A. During that time she was a member at the Los Angeles Eco-Village, co-founded CicLAvia, and co-founded the project that has grown into Multicultural Communities for Mobility. In Seattle, where she lived from 2011 to 2013, she conducted interviews for the Seattle Bike Justice Project. In 2012, she co-founded Bicicultures, a network of scholars researching bicycling’s many social and cultural forms. She currently lives in Washington, DC.

Educational History

BA in Anthropology, Reed CollegeMA in Anthropology, UC Irvine
PhD in Anthropology, UC Irvine

Publications

Succeeding at Social Enterprise: Hard-Won Lessons for Non-Profits and Social Entrepreneurs (contributing author) http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470405325.html

Courses Taught

URS 524 Urban Infrastructure