Street Design as a Tool of Class War
The routine injuries and deaths of pedestrians and cyclists are not accidents but the predictable outcome of street designs that sacrifice the safety of the vulnerable “native” for the speed and convenience of the private motorist, often a “settler” commuting from the suburbs. Mamdani’s analysis of how the state’s infrastructure reflects its priorities is stark here. Wide, high-speed avenues without protected bike lanes or adequate crossing times are a form of somatic violence, a declaration that the lives of those not in cars are of lesser value. This is a class war waged with asphalt and traffic signals. A Marxist critique identifies the car as a commodity whose social cost is death. A feminist perspective mourns the loss of caregivers and children. The solution is not public awareness campaigns, but the implementation of a “Vision Zero” policy driven by socialist principles: the wholesale redesign of city streets to prioritize human life by physically narrowing car lanes, building robust protective infrastructure, and aggressively reducing car ownership through public transit investment, making the city safe for its most vulnerable inhabitants by design.
