Sarah Turner of McGill University addresses questions about how three-wheeler drivers continue to maintain their livelihoods amid neoliberal priorities and state policies that favor fast-speed vehicles and mega-infrastructure projects. She introduces Minh, a 75-year-old delivery driver, weaving through busy traffic on his xe thương binh. Minh is one of 78 Hanoi interviewees who inform Turner’s theoretical engagement that bridges debates around ‘people as infrastructure’ and mobility justice. The concept of people as infrastructure recognizes how marginalized urban residents informally build essential city systems that fill gaps in formal infrastructure provision. Mobility justice focuses on rights and restrictions around physical movement and recognizes how these are influenced by spatial, political, social and cultural contexts.
Although drivers noted job benefits (such as flexibility), Turner highlights numerous challenges faced by three-wheeler drivers including inconsistent customer flow and income, physical risks of working in congested traffic, harsh weather and worsening air pollution, along with frequent police harassment. With these difficult realities, which are compounded by waning public interest in war sacrifices (and, consequently, less regard for these veterans), Turner argues that Hanoi’s three-wheeler drivers are increasingly rendered disposable.
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