Biography
I am a critical transportation geographer from Puerto Rico, and my research focuses on the histories and contemporary realities of transportation governance on the islands, particularly how these systems are shaped by coloniality. My work examines the intersections of infrastructure, mobility, and power as they unfold in mobile life in Puerto Rico.
Research Interests
transportation and mobility justice
critical transportation geographies
US empire, colonialism and infrastructures
Research Description
I analyze transport policies across multiple scales of state action to trace their entanglement by relations of power. My master's research was based in Vieques, Puerto Rico, and it narrated the recent privatization process of the ferry service as well as residents' contestations to the state's neoliberal politics of mobility. I am interested in exploring Puerto Rico's contemporary mobility agenda and its interrelationship to debt, colonialism, and car-centric transportation.
Estudio las políticas de transporte para identificar cómo se entrelazan con el poder. Mi investigación de maestría tomó lugar en Vieques, Puerto Rico, y narró el proceso de privatización del servicio de lanchas, así como las respuestas de les residentes a las políticas neoliberales de movilidad del estado colonial. Me interesa explorar lo que denomino la agenda de movilidad contemporánea de Puerto Rico y su interrelación con la deuda, el colonialismo y la hegemonía del transporte centrado en el automóvil.
Education
MA in Geography, UIUC
MUP in Urban Planning, Specialization in Transportation Planning, UIUC
BA in Psychology, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Additional Campus Affiliations
Society, Mobility and Infrastructure Lab
Latin American and Caribbean Cities Collective
External Links
Recent Publications
Cidell, J., Kayzar, B., & Pimentel Rivera, A. (2025). Evaluating the productive frictions of artist-in-residence programs in Departments of Transportation. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 139, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2024.104582
Pimentel Rivera, A. (2023). Opposing powers at the helm and the immobilities of passenger‐ferry governance in Vieques, Puerto Rico. The Geographical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12515