Pedal the Old Pueblo: A Naturalistic Study on Bicycling in Tucson, AZ

City investments in bicycle infrastructure can improve residents' health and wellness, lower pollution, fight climate change, and reduce congestion. While transportation geography and planning have long focused on looking at how vehicles, goods, and services move across a region, there is a growing body of research focused on the movement of people through a city. This dissertation uses both the City of Tucson and Pima County, Arizona–– a region of low-density development, traditionally focused on the car and now trying to improve cycling rates––to explore how cyclists interact with other road users and the built environment and how we can use that information for better bicycle infrastructure planning. The original research presented in this dissertation answers this question through three interconnected papers that explore the history of cycling planning and the opportunities and barriers to bicycle planning in the region (Appendix A), factors that influence route choice (Appendix B), and an analysis of the lived experiences of cycling in the region (Appendix C). This dissertation helps advance bicycle planning by expanding on how multiple types of riders––people who commute via bicycle, who ride for leisure, or who ride for sport––move through and interact with the built environment to design and plan better infrastructure. The dissertation highlights opportunities to continue to expand on the use of video to understand cyclist behavior and interactions in the built environment to identify gaps in the infrastructure. Additionally, the dissertation demonstrates opportunities for planning scholars and university outreach departments to collaborate with practitioners to put research into practice