Social Media as Public Discourse in Planning : Reddit Discussions on Cycling in Winnipeg

Sammanfattning

Social media has become an increasingly important space for public discourse wherecitizens discuss, debate, and interpret contested urban issues in real time. This thesisexamines how social media can be used and understood as an active and ongoing site ofpublic discourse while also exploring what online discussions reveal about publicperceptions of cycling, mobility, and transportation legitimacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba.Using Reddit discussions from the subreddit r/Winnipeg, data was collected using thekeyword “cycling” resulting in an initial dataset of 2,279 comments of which 615 wereretained for close qualitative analysis. The data was coded in ATLAS.ti usingcorpus-assisted critical discourse analysis (CACDA). Three central themes emerged:Infrastructure Skepticism and Government Distrust; Perceptions of Safety, Risk, andResponsibility; and Cycling Legitimacy and Car-Dominant Attitudes. The findings revealthat public perceptions of cycling are shaped not only by infrastructure itself, but also byrecurring storylines surrounding danger, responsibility, public spending, trust, and mobilitylegitimacy. More broadly, the research demonstrates how social media discussions canprovide planners with insight into the lived experiences and public narratives that shapecontested urban issues beyond formal planning processes.