The 2021 Australian Walking and Cycling Conference is on! Thursday the 30th of September and Friday the 1st of October – and this year it is all online!
This year’s theme is: Global Lessons, Local Opportunities.
I have been to this conference a number of times in the past and I’ve always enjoyed it.
There is always a good mix of research, community, international and local perspectives, sustainability, urban planning, and new and interesting ideas.
I am definitely going to miss not seeing delegates in person, or doing the side-conference activities and events – they are a real highlight!
But even without the trimmings, I’m excited about this year’s program.
I’m looking forward to connecting with some old conference mates and meeting some new people and hearing what some of ‘the big issues’ are in cycling research.
I’ve been pouring over the abstracts and speakers, checking out the new projects, selecting what sessions to go to, and preparing notes to add to chat discussions during presentations.
I’ve listed the program at the end of this post for those interested.
For anyone going – I’ll (virtually) see you there!
AWCC 2019. Source: AWCC
Conference vision
The simple acts of walking and cycling have the potential to transform the places we live, our economies and how we engage with our environment. The Australian Walking and Cycling conference explores the potential for walking and cycling to not only provide for transport and recreation but solutions to challenges of liveability, health, community building, economic development and sustainability. As one of Australia’s longest-running, best-regarded and most affordable active travel conferences, we bring together practitioners and researchers from Australia and across the world to share their work and engage with conference participants.
The Australian Walking and Cycling Conference aims to send zero waste to landfill.
AWCC
Keynote speakers
I am very excited about the keynotes speakers – especially Meredith. I have been following her work for a while (total researcher fan-girl crush!) and she is kick-ass! Meredith is also a consummate speaker, so I can’t wait to hear her present on her current work. Double Woohoo!
Meredith Glaser is an American urban planner, lecturer, and sustainable mobility researcher, based in the Netherlands since 2010. At the Urban Cycling Institute (University of Amsterdam), her research focuses on public policy innovation, knowledge transfer, and capacity building for accelerated implementation of sustainable transport goals. She is one of the world’s most experienced educators for professionals seeking to learn Dutch transport planning policies and practices. She also manages academic output for several European Commission projects and sits on the advisory committee of the Cycling Research Board. Meredith holds master’s degrees in public health and urban planning from University of California, Berkeley.
Fiona Campbell has been working for the City of Sydney since 2008 and is the Manager Cycling Strategy. She is deeply committed to making Sydney a bike-friendly city and to helping others achieve similar goals. Fiona is currently managing the roll out of 11 new City of Sydney cycleway projects, three of which are permanent designs to upgrade temporary Covid-19 pop-up cycleways. Fiona mostly rides a Danish (Butchers and Bicycles) cargo trike, and on weekends accompanied by two Jack Russells. Fiona will present on “Global lessons, local opportunities”. This title is also the Conference theme.
Matt Root and his two cargo bike under 95cm ‘city experts’. Image: Radio Adelaide.
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Matt Root, an avid bike rider and dad of two toddlers present a session called ‘Going Dutch, cargo bikes for kids’ – and it was really great!
His presenation focused on what life on a biek and in the city is like from the point of view of his two young sons. Perspectives like child-centred research and having chilldren activitely participating and informing research and policy is a key step in better redesigning more liveable cities for all.
So I was most intrested to hear what emerrged from the two young experts (Matt’s two sons, aged 2 and 4) while Dad (Matt)* rigged on-board GoPro cameras to capture all the fun and sense of adventure.
In this session, we heard what the pre-schoolers liked and disliked about our streets from their unique vantage point (see below).
From this vantage, Matt draws out aspects of what new ideas we can learn from these young experts.
Below are a few of those insights. All images by Matt Root.
After Matt’s presentation, I went looking for more information about this and was happy to see Victoria Local Goverance Association has a Child Friendly Cities and Community focus.
*Matt Root is a co-owner of Flyt transport planning consultancy based in Perth and he is focused on the planning of safe and convenient bicycle infrastructure across the city. Between 2018-2020 Matt led the State Government’s planning for Perth’s Long Term Cycle Network to accommodate the city’s population in 2050.
From the front box of a cargo bike, how do our streets and
built environment look and feel to a 2 & 4-year-old?
The Urban95 initiative asks this simple question to leaders, planners, and designers.
Urban95 design principals focus on family-friendly urban planning and those designs can help us active transport professions in our work.
The Urban95 project has at its heart a focus on children-friendly cities and urban development.
Urban95 interventions help cities increase positive interactions between caregivers, babies and toddlers; increase access to — and use of — the services and amenities families need; and reduce stresses on caregivers. They are organised into two categories of policies and services:
Family-friendly urban planning and design, including the planning, design and regulation of a city’s space, land use, infrastructure and services
Healthy Environments for children, including improving air quality and access to nature
The Urban95 background states that more than a billion children live in cities, and rapid urbanisation means that number is growing.
Babies, toddlers and caregivers experience the city in unique ways.
They need safe, healthy environments, where crucial services are easily accessible, frequent, warm, responsive interactions with loving adults are possible, and safe, a stimulating physical environment to play in and explore abound.
The City at Eye Level for Kids (Ebook pg 54 & 55).
The City at Eye Level for Kids
From Urban95 comes The City at Eye Level which, as their website explains, develops and shares knowledge about how to make urban development work at human scale.
A collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 initiative, this – The City at Eye Level for Kids – book contains over 100 contributions from across the world on work to improve cities for children and the people who care for them.
It shares practices, lessons, perspectives and insights from 30 different countries around the world, that will be useful to urban planners, architects, politicians, developers, entrepreneurs and advocates for children and families.
Do you live in Adelaide, have a spare bike and are looking for a way to support the NRW theme of ‘Recovery – A future beyond a bin’?
Then this post is for you!
..And if you live elsewhere.. look for a similar program in your area!
Here’s a sneak peek at Lighthouse Youth Program’s November Bike Drive 2020.
What is Lighthouse Youth Projects (LYP)?
Lighthouse Youth Projects Inc (LYP) was established in Adelaide, South Australia in 2016. This program delivers a range of bike programs – including BMX and MTB mentoring programs to give hope to young Australians in crippling emotional, mental and financial situations.
Lighthouse Youth Projects Inc is a registered charity and volunteer supported not-for-profit organisation sharing a love of riding and living life to the fullest. LYP strives to help young people at risk of not being amazing, empowering them for a successful future.
They work with young people, regardless of circumstance, supporting them into positive pathways through our diverse range of programs.
Their services include a range of community and social events, bike skill coaching and events, and life skills and mentoring.
Do you want to help improve the lives of young people AND support the environment at the same time?
To mark Australia’s National Recycling Week LYP is teaming up with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and the City of Charles Sturt to take your pre-loved bikes off your hands.
LYP welcomes old (or new!) bikes that need a new home, and we are excited to get them back on the road or recycle them when they are past their used by date!
Rescuing bikes from sheds, backyards, and garages allows LYP to continue to provide their mentoring and help at-risk youth to create positive change in their lives.
Join LYP at the Beverley Recycling and Waste Centre, 2-6 Toogood Ave, Beverley, South Australia this Friday 13 & Saturday 14 November 2020!
LYP can’t wait to see you there!
BIKE DROP OFF TIMES: Friday 13th between 8am – 4pm Saturday 14th between 8am – 4pm
So if you are around Adelaide and have a spare bike, why not head down and meet the LYP crew and support their Nov 2020 Bike Drive.
LYP Mentoring through bikes
Not only do Lighthouse Youth Projects offer a range of community events, BMX and MTB coaching, along with life skills mentoring, but they also have a range of videos online to encourage more people to get on their bikes and ride.
Mentoring through bikes
These videos cover a rage of skills, from how to bunny hop, to ‘pumping’ for when you are on a pump track and some general bike maintenance skills (like the video below).
This is another way LYP help to mentors others and share a love of bikes, riding skills, energy and enthusiasm with the next generation, encouraging everyone around them to get stoked on life.
Impressive!
Keep up the awesome work LYP!
Some content and all images and video sourced from LYP website, Vimeo, FB & IG.
Anna was riding with a group of friends in the Adelaide Hills when they saw a koala sitting in the middle of the road. With parts of the Adelaide Hills ravaged by fires, wildlife that are not killed, have been injured and displaced.
On the day Anna was riding, it was 42C and
this koala was desperate for a drink.
Anna stopped to give the koala a drink. The koala,
who has since been named Kodak, drank 8 bottles of water from the cyclists.
They then ushered him off the road to safety.
The moving video of this encounter has been seen worldwide and brought attention to the desperate plight Australian wildlife is experiencing during these bushfires – and particularly for koalas.
Since finding Kodak, Anna has a Thirsty Koalas project
on Go Fund Me and has been working tirelessly volunteering for Koala rescue
and rehabilitation to support their long-term survival.
Anna Heusler. Image: Chick who ride bikes.
Support the koalas
In support of Koala Rescue and Anna’s hard work, Chicks who Ride Bikes have re-released a limited edition Koala jersey where 100% of the profits will go to Koala rescue and rehabilitation.
Order a limited edition koala jersey and 100% of profits go towards the International Koala Centre of Excellence.
Supporting the koalas is a great way for cyclists to show they care, support bushfire efforts, see out 2019 and start the new 2020 year (and decade) on a positive note.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by the bushfires.
For this post, we travel to the beautiful city of Adelaide.
Adelaide’s Bike Art Trail project has 10 public art installations by four different artist/teams dotted around Adelaide on bike paths.
The idea behind this project is to use the art map to ride around and see each of the artworks which are located at key landmarks and tourist locations around the city.
A unique feature of this project is that some of the artworks have been incorporated into – or as – an actual bike rack as well as other being installed alongside bike paths. Although an interesting idea, I doubt cyclists would actually use the bike rack art to lock up their bikes. I’ve never seen any bikes locked up to them. The art bike racks seem more designed for aesthetics, public curiosity or as talking points. Even so, it is still good to see some colour, design and funding being invested to enhance local bike experiences.
These artworks were commissioned by the City of Adelaide, with assistance from the Government of South Australia, through Arts SA.
Map of artwork locations. Image: City of Adelaide
What are the artworks?
1. Onion Ringsby Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell (Groundplay) – Grote St.
Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell’s simple organic form references an onion. Adelaide Central Market is an incredibly popular destination. At 1.8m high, this work commands a significant presence in the streetscape. The circular form also allows several bikes to be locked to it
2. Play Here by Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Hutt St.
Hutt
Street is a busy urban place in Adelaide that has a strong café, art and design
culture. As soon as Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa saw the site they knew it
needed some bold graphics. Somewhere that was a special place to lock your
bike but also somewhere that could hold its own against the backdrop of the
local TAB and the two nearby banks.
Deb
and Christine took their inspiration from the roads, airports, helipads and
line markers of the world. They played with the predictable seriousness and
colour tone that line marking usually delivers and added a few tertiary colours
and a ‘you are here’ sign that reassures the person sitting on the bench close
by of where they are
Onion Ring. Image Weekend Notes
3. Perspective by Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Tandanya, – Grenfell St.
Deb
Jones and Christine Cholewa wanted their bike rack/artwork to be a gentle
reminder:
that someone has been here before
that time will change your perspective
that we are inexorably linked to the land and the sky.
They
have installed two differently shaped bike racks. Each bike rack has a shadow
of a bike sandblasted into the ground below it, as if the bike is still there.
Drawn from actual shadows, the shadow images indicate different times of the
day; one long shadow for early morning and the shortened shadow for early
afternoon.
4.Fashionistasby Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell Groundplay) – Rundle St.
Rundle
Street is fast becoming a high street fashion shopping destination and a pair
of interlinked coat hangers not only acknowledges, but celebrates this.
Shaping
the hooks of the hangers into heads is intended to give them character and pay
homage to Joff and Razak of Miss Gladys Sym Choon, recognised pioneers of
fashion and of Rundle Street Culture.
Image: City of Adeliade
5. Branchrackby Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa – Botanic Gardens Entrance.
The
Botanic Garden is a place that celebrates plants. Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa
wanted to make a bike rack using plant materials, however, that wouldn’t last
very long so they opted for the next best thing: a bike rack made from bronze,
cast directly from a tree branch.
When
they visited the site and saw the row of existing standard bike racks, they
decided to model the branch rack similar in form to the standard racks so that
the artwork blend in and come as a surprise at the end of the bike rack line.
6. Camouflage by Karl Meyer (Exhibition Studios) – Adelaide Zoo.
This
artwork was inspired by animal themes and connects with the diversity of
animals within the zoo. Evoking childhood memories, it invites the user or
passerby to ponder the relationship between ourselves and other animals.
Playing with scale and colour, capturing the essence of the richness in
diversity, the satin surface finish and smooth form is designed to invite
touch, exploration and connection.
The work subtly embraces the cycling narrative with it spacing and orientation to the existing brightly coloured rack. Within the entry plaza the form and colour is conceived to integrate and complement the landscaping and forms. In contrast to the bright yellow bike racks within the space, the circular shapes seek to connect with bicycles wheels and animal diversity.
7.FORK! by Karl Meyer (Exhibition Studios) – Melbourne St.
The
artwork seeks to connect with the contemporary cafe and food culture and as a
free standing element.
The
Melbourne Street precinct is a vibrant blend of retail, residential and
business. The pavements bustle and the area is well known as a popular eating
place offering a range of restaurants. The artwork seeks to affirm the cafe
scene, to entertain and provoke enquiry and is seen to be a statement to the
independence and identity of Melbourne Street as a destination within the
broader context of Adelaide.
8. Ms Robinson by Tanya Court – O’Connell St.
The current resurgence of the animal print trend is captured
in ‘Mrs. Robinson’. Leopard prints are used as the basis to modify standard
stainless steel bike racks, transforming our impoverished urban realm with the
most exotic of animal simulations.
Image: Weekend Notes
9.Paper Bagby Michelle Nikou – North Terrace SA Museum
The
location and the numerous ‘heads on plinths’ that line North Terrace generated
the concept for this work. ‘Brown Paper Bag‘ is a contemporary and quirky take
on ‘the establishment of success’.
Michelle
Nikou considered shyness, anonymity and the feeling of not wanting to be seen –
or perhaps even negating the pressure to be great when creating this work. Whilst
the work does have a serious undercurrent it is also, perhaps foremost,
humorous and playful. There is something most charming about little people who
play with the anonymity of putting a brown paper bag over their heads–moving in
circles and bumping into things.
10. Parking Poleby Michelle Nikou – Hindley St.
This
work of Michelle Nikou will mirror what exists beside it but perform a
‘softening of the rules’. It was not possible to construct a conceptually
difficult work in such a fast paced zone, however, in the most gentle of ways
Michelle hopes to shift perception with ambience of material and humour.
Bronze always says ART and in this way the material is able to insert itself into a ‘dictated space’: changing the paradigm and presenting no rules. From the experience of having parked in the spaces just near this zone, Michelle realised they require some inspection to avoid a fine. Adding to the mix of that inspection is a blank – a blank parking pole and signs made from traditional artists’ materials, it has no instruction on it and therefore remains a space to project oneself on to, appreciable in today’s graphically overloaded world.
It’s Australian Walking and Cycling Conference (AWCC) time again!
Hooray!
I really like this
conference.
The people are great, the program is always interesting – and it doesn’t cost and arm and a leg to get there. Perfecto!
In 2017, I presented an AWCC roundtable session entitled Bicycles Create Change: An
innovative guide to creating memorable and meaningful engagement in community
bike projects.
The session went very well
and it was great to share my work people outside of Griffith Uni and Queensland.
It was also a valuable opportunity to network and meet some incredible people. I came home from the last AWCC with a big smile and many new ideas and resources.
This year, AWCC is returning to Adelaide on October 24-25th 2019.
Image: @bykko_au
AWCC 2019 – Abstracts open!
The 2019 conference and related activities aim
to engage more directly with local issues of climate change mitigation and
adaption in relation to walking and cycling.
The 2019 AWCC theme is Active transport in a changing climate.
Abstracts for AWCC sessions are now open.
Session Formats
Learnshops: 20 min podium presentations with 10 mins Q & A.
Spin cycles: Short, fast-paced podium PPTs of 3.45 mins for 15 slides.
Roundtables: To a table of 10 – present for 10 with 15 mins group discussion
Key dates
Abstract submission opens: Monday 22 April
Abstract submission closes: Monday 22 July
Authors notified of outcome: Monday 19 August
Authors notified of program placement (date/time): Mon 26 Aug
Presenting author registration deadline: Monday 16 September
The simple acts of walking and cycling have
the potential to transform the places we live, our economies and how we engage
with our environment. The Australian Walking and Cycling conference explores
the potential for walking and cycling to not only provide for transport and
recreation but solutions to challenges of liveability, health, community
building, economic development and sustainability. As one of Australia’s
longest running, best regarded and most affordable active travel conferences,
we bring together practitioners and researchers from Australia and across the
world to share their work and engage with conference participants.
Conference theme: Active transport in a changing
climate
We aspire to promote work which creates a transport
mode shift away from cars towards walking and cycling, and using active means
to link with improved public transport in suburbs and rural towns. We want to
shift away from CO2 reliant mobility and keep people active as temperatures
rise, and extreme weather becomes more common.
What can a transport mode shift in our suburbs and
rural towns contribute to CO2 reduction nationally? What concomitant air
quality benefits are felt in suburban streets and towns as a result?
Acknowledging that climate change is occurring, what changes are to be made to
suburban and town environments so that walking and cycling are almost always
convenient, pleasurable, safe and life affirming even in the face of rising
temperatures? What does a small town or suburban neighbourhood retrofit look
like in the next ten or twenty years, so that people are out and about and
interacting? How do people of all ages and abilities avoid retreating to
air-conditioned ‘comfort’ – ‘comfort’ that is inactive, isolated and CO2
producing?
These questions indicate the directions we hope to explore in the 2019 conference.
Here is the fourth and last in the US bicycle politics review essay series written by Dr Jennifer Bonham. This review detailed three key texts. The first post outlined the socio-political context to set the scene. The second post reviewed the book ‘Pedal Power: The quiet rise of the bicycle in American public life’ while the last post focused on Zack Furness’ ‘One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility’. This post looks at Jeff Mapes’ Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities’ which rounds off a very comprehensive and informed discussion about the history and activities of bicycle politics in the USA. This book in an especially valuable inclusion to this discussion given that according to Dr Bonham ‘it comes the closest to conjuring a culture of cycling which values diverse mobilities’ of all the books reviewed. A massive thank you to Dr Bonham for sharing her research, thoughts and passion. Enjoy! NG.
Mapes, J. (2009). Pedaling revolution: How cyclists are changing American cities. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.
More Space
Jeff Mapes’ Pedaling
Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities targets a general
readership as he traces changes in the status and popularity of cycling in the
United States. A senior political reporter with The Oregonian, Mapes’
sympathy for bicycling is informed by debates over the livability of American
cities, health and the built environment, and the costs of suburbanization and
automobile-oriented transport systems. Mapes does not explicitly challenge
fundamental notions of technological progress or dominant values of
individualism and materialism. Rather, he argues, automobile-oriented transport
systems bring a range of problems—suburban sprawl, affordability, exclusion and
constraint— that will worsen into the future. His analysis is concerned with
the formal political institutions—parliament, elected and appointed officials
in all spheres of government, legislation, funding arrangements—he believes are
essential to increasing bicycle use.
Mapes introduces his
book with a description of the different people to be observed riding bicycles
in North American cities today. As he challenges cycling stereotypes, he is
also quite aware this latest turn to bicycling may be short lived, just one
more crest in a series of highs and lows that reach from the nineteenth to the
twenty-first centuries. The bright moments for “everyday” cycling in the United
States have occurred under “not so everyday” conditions. The 1940s boom came
with wartime petrol rationing and the 1970s boom amid the fuel shortages of the
oil crisis. But Mapes traces threads from the 1970s to the present day as he identifies
the people (bike advocates, bureaucrats, industry representatives,
politicians), maps the legislation (ISTEA), and describes the ideas and
programs (e.g. Safe Routes to School) he believes have enabled a recent
resurgence in cycling.
Once he has
positioned the United States on the brink of change, Mapes turns his attention
to the Netherlands for a glimpse of what the future might hold. He provides a
detailed description of the infrastructure, road rules, etiquette, legislation,
and funding arrangements in place in the Netherlands. Mapes emphasizes the
importance of the Dutch government’s political will in re-orienting the
transport system to accommodate all modes of transport (not just the
automobile) and, in contrast to Wray, he explains this re-orientation largely
in terms of the 1970s oil crisis.
Mapes, like Wray,
discusses the various roles played by bike advocates, advocacy groups, activist
events and sympathetic politicians in developing a culture of cycling in U.S.
cities. The discussion is rich with examples as he takes readers on a cycling
tour of three U.S. cities: the university town of Davis, California; Portland,
Oregon; and New York. Combining tour with commentary, Mapes describes the
streets he cycles along and uses buildings, landmarks, and pieces of
infrastructure as entry points into the network of people, organizations,
events and opportunities he argues have been instrumental in the development of
local cycling cultures. The “bicycle tour” through these cities is particularly
useful as it situates cycling within the broader context of debates about
public space, sub/urbanization, urban planning and transport. In doing this,
Mapes draws back from the car versus bike dichotomy bringing into view myriad
elements, actions and relations that make up the urban landscape and shape
mobility practices today.
Mapes’ cycling
advocacy is keen but measured. In the final chapters, he focuses on the three
issues he clearly considers to be at the heart of livable cities: cyclist
safety, health, and children’s independent mobility. He presents a useful
summary of the contrasting views of “cyclist safety” from prominent U.S.
cycling activists—including John Forester’s “vehicular cycling,” Randy
Neufield’s traffic calming approach and Anne Lusk’s segregated bikeways—and
discusses their implications for transport infrastructure, public space and the
conduct of the journey by bike.
These debates
currently reverberate in developed and developing countries across the globe.
As Mapes places the bicycle within a broader sub/urban context, he presents
research into the health benefits of cycling alongside discussions between
geographers, planners, transport, and health researchers on the role of the
built environment in facilitating— or not—active modes of travel. Finally,
Mapes examines the decline of cycling in children’s everyday mobility in the
United States and discusses the competing concerns over sedentary lifestyles,
children‘s independent mobility and parental responsibilities.
Pedaling Revolution is not explicit in its theoretical underpinnings nor does it problematize the power relations through which bicycles/bicycling/ bicyclists have been marginalized in contemporary American culture. Further, Mapes’ discussion of bicycle culture tends to be overshadowed by the role he attributes to politicians and bureaucrats in bringing about change. But what is crucially important about Pedaling Revolutionis that it places cycling within a broader spatial and mobility context than either Wray or Furness allow. In doing this, Mapes comes closest to conjuring a culture of cycling which values diverse mobilities.
Image: Mona Caron
Centering Cycling?
Each of these
books advocates for cycling as they explore its position in the United States
and reflect on bringing about change. They are important in their efforts to
persuade a broader audience—beyond the committed cyclist—of the benefits of
public investment in cycling; demonstrating alternative (more or less radical)
ways of being in the world; providing insights into how cycling advocates and
sympathizers have intervened in decision-making processes; the rich and
detailed examples of the individuals, groups, places, and processes that have
been pivotal in fostering change—and the pitfalls to be overcome.
However, their efforts to centre cycling within their respective analyses meet with mixed success. As Wray and Furness introduce cycling through a dichotomous relation with the automobile, the bicycle is immediately “de-centered” and, despite demonstrating alternative futures the struggle for change remains daunting. Their political strategy is to “grow” cycling cultures outward into the broader population so that an increasing number of people come into the “fold” of cycling. Arguably, Mapes retains cycling at the centre of the analysis through reference to broader spatial and mobility contexts. In doing this, his strategy is to foster general conditions which value cycling—a culture which welcomes bicycling without demanding mass participation or positioning cyclists as victims needing concessions or protests.
Image: Pedal Revolution.org
Dr Jennifer Bonham is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide. She has a background in human geography specializing in urbanization and cultural practices of travel. Her research focuses on devalued mobilities as it explores the complex relationship between bodies, spaces, practices, and meanings of travel. Her current research explores the gendering of cycling. Jennifer’s work is informed by a concern for equitable and ecologically sustainable cities.
Contact details: School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia. jennifer.bonham@adelaide.edu.au
This excerpt is from: Bonham, J. (2011). Bicycle politics: Review essay. Transfers, 1(1), 137. doi:10.3167/trans.2011.010110.
Images and hyperlinks included here are not part of the original publication.
Welcome back to this third post in a series of four taken from Dr Jennifer Bonham’s Bicycle Politics Review Essay IDEAS IN MOTION: ON THE BIKE. In the first post, Dr Bonham provided the background and context for the three bicycle politics books she reviews. The second post reviewed the book ‘Pedal Power: The quiet rise of the bicycle in American public life’. In this post, she reviews Zack Furness’s ‘One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility’. This book is a personal favourite of mine. I have a copy on my desk and I love that this book is a reiteration of Furness’s PhD Dissertation. It was also the first time I saw the term BIKETIVISM. Books like this one keep me motivated in my own community bicycle PhD research. If you get a chance, read this book. It is comprehensive, thought-provoking, full of interesting bike facts and is incredibly well-researched. A must read for any cyclist! Thanks again to Dr Bonham. Enjoy! NG.
Furness, Z. (2010). One less car: Bicycling and the politics of automobility. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Less Cars
Zack Furness is an assistant professor in cultural studies at Columbia College, Chicago. His book One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility is a revised version of his Ph.D. dissertation and it is impressive in its scope and detail. Furness carves out a place for cycling both in the formation of automobility, which he locates in the late nineteenth century, and as a point of resistance to it. The bicycle, he argues, played a central role in a series of cultural transformations in “mobility, technology, and space” (16). These transformations included the construction of a “mobile subjectivity,” the development of a meaning system around personal transportation and the disciplining of bodies and environment to long-distance, independent mobility (17).
These transformations, according to Furness, were key components in the new “system of automobility.”9 Following from this, the automobile did not initiate cultural transformations; rather, the automobile itself “made sense” because these transformations had already taken place. Furness acknowledges cycling was not alone in bringing about some of these changes but he regards it as a proto-type of automoblity so that “automobiles provided an almost logical solution to the culture of mobility forged by cyclists and the bicycle industry” (45).
Having argued that cycling played a key role in the formation of automobility, the substantive chapters of One Less Car operate as point and counterpoint to the automobile norm. In Chapter Three, Furness discusses the early twentieth century growth in automobile ownership, legislative changes regarding conduct on the streets, and the modification of public space to facilitate motor vehicle movement. These changes are explained in terms of the automobile-industrial complex, which facilitated production and consumption on a massive scale. The discussion then turns to cycling as a point of resistance to this complex. Furness locates the emergence of U.S. cycle activism in the 1960s/1970s and places cycling organizations, advocacy groups and activism at the centre of challenges to the automobile that run through to the present day. Like Wray, he explores the role of different political actors and actions in creating alternative mobility cultures, illustrating the case with a detailed and multi-layered account of Critical Mass.10
Moving to contemporary society, Furness is particularly concerned with the mechanisms by which cycling is devalued in relation to the automobile and focuses on specific cultural products—film, television shows, road- safety pedagogy and news reporting—for the way they have created and maintained automobile norms. Bike riding characters in films such as Pee- wee’s Big Adventure and television shows like Get a Life infantilize and emasculate cyclists while road-safety “documentaries” effectively prepare child-bicyclists to become adult-motorists. In terms of news reporting, he argues, cycling has been represented favorably in times of crisis—the war effort and petrol rationing—but more recently power relations have been turned on their head as motorists are positioned as victims of the inept or elitist behavior of cyclists.
Image: Contra Texts
As a counterpoint to these negative representations, the remaining chapters offer thick descriptions of cycling sub-cultures in the U.S. These chapters are the real strength of One Less Car, offering insights into an aspect of U.S. cycling that, until recently, has been overlooked. They examine the linkages within specific sub-cultural groups between bicycling, environmentalism, community development and anti-consumption. These include the “Do it Yourself/Do It Ourselves” ethos of the punk musicians who have embraced bicycling, bike messengers and mutant bike clubs.
Furness also explores the important role of community bike projects within disadvantaged localities as they provide places for people to gather and access resources and knowledge that is usually unavailable. He examines the role that specific projects have played in supplying bikes to people within their own local communities and, with a more critical eye, the place of such projects in developing countries as they assist in creating alternative global networks.
Furness also examines the more problematic aspects of cycling sub-culture—the pervasive sexism of cycling in the U.S. and the assumptions that underpin bicycle projects in developing countries. Furness finishes the book with a brief review of the shift of bike manufacturing out of the U.S. to low-wage countries and contemplates the potential of the industry to once again provide employment in the U.S.
Furness attempts to place the bicycle at the centre of the analysis but, like Wray, he re-inscribes the bicycle/automobile dichotomy and despite paying careful attention to one set of cultural transformations he ignores others. Furness does not draw attention to the micro-political processes through which decisions about the material formation of cars and bikes have been (and continue to be) made. Nor does he relate the bicycle or the automobile to broader discussions in the late nineteenth century about the spatialization of activities and the development of cities, which included the urban industrial economy; urban efficiency, sub/urbanization and public health. Although Furness examines contestation within the various cultural transformations he describes, there is an air of finality in these transformations that offers little hope of change.
Finally, as Furness identifies bicycle activism as the key point of resistance to the automobile in the anti-freeway protests of the 1960s/1970s, he overlooks the efforts of local communities, built environment professionals, politicians, and academics in questioning freeway planning.
Image: behance.net
Notes
10. Critical Mass is a regularly staged bike ride in cities around the world that brings cyclists together in a blend of political statement and celebration of cyclists.
Dr Jennifer Bonham is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide. She has a background in human geography specializing in urbanization and cultural practices of travel. Her research focuses on devalued mobilities as it explores the complex relationship between bodies, spaces, practices, and meanings of travel. Her current research explores the gendering of cycling. Jennifer’s work is informed by a concern for equitable and ecologically sustainable cities.
Contact details: School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia. jennifer.bonham@adelaide.edu.au
This excerpt is from: Bonham, J. (2011). Bicycle politics: Review Essay. Transfers, 1(1), 137. doi:10.3167/trans.2011.010110.
Images and hyperlinks included here are not part of the original publication.
Welcome back to this second post in a series of four taken from Dr Jennifer Bonham’s Bicycle Politics Review Essay IDEAS IN MOTION: ON THE BIKE. In the last post, Dr Bonham (Uni of Adelaide) provided an introduction and background for this essay and established the histo-politico-social context. This post reviews the first (of three) American books on Bicycle Politics. Thanks again to Dr Bonham. If you have not yet read this book, check out this review and see if you want to head to your local library for more. Enjoy! NG.
Wray, J. H. (2008). Pedal power: The quiet rise of the bicycle in American public life. Boulder, CA: Paradigm Publishers.
Pedal Power
J. Harry
Wray’s Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life is
an immensely readable account of the nascent shift toward bike friendliness in
the United States. Wray has written both a cycling advocacy text and, as a
professor of politics at De Paul University in Chicago, an accessible
introductory text for students taking courses in culture and politics. Each
chapter offers an entry point into discussions about the nature of politics,
political theory, the mechanisms that foster particular meanings and values
over others, and the processes of political struggle and change.
The early chapters of Pedal Power establish the background for the pivotal third chapter after which the discussion turns to the development of a bicycle culture and the process of creating political change. Wray opens his case with a “bicycle view” strategy—that of the touring cyclist— to contrast the embodied experiences and social interactions enabled through cycling and car driving. He uses a familiar set of concepts in making this comparison: the surface of the road reverberating through the body; muscles responding to topography; elements assailing the flesh.
Further, the fact of sitting “on” a bike and “in” a car facilitates different types of relations with co-travelers (those who walk, ride, drive (passenger) alongside), “by-standers” (those not going anywhere—for the moment), and other species and things. Wray links these different experiences of mobility to different political positions arguing the bicyclist tends to a more progressive (and preferable) politics as the cyclist is always located within his/her context whereas driving tends to isolate and insulate motorists from their environment.
Clearly,
the bicycle and the motorcar will enable different experiences and interactions
but Wray misses a number of opportunities by simplifying the argument into a
bicycle versus car dichotomy. It works toward fixing differences between cars
and bikes and smoothes over the processes through which bodies, machines,
materials, spaces, and concepts have been, and continue to be, wrought
together. Further, it limits our view of other ways of getting around and the
diversity of experiences and interactions these enable. To illustrate this
point, we could assemble cycling (racing, utility, etc.), walking (jogging,
running), taking the tram, bus or train, riding a scooter, wheelchair or sled,
skateboarding, being a passenger in a car, driving a truck, taxi or automobile,
rickshaw cycling, parcour and rollerblading. We could then question the
apparatuses through which these particular categories have been created, or
excised, from the mass of human experience and bracketed into discrete sets of
mobility. Picking apart these categories (the practices, emotions, concepts,
materials and interactions they entail) is a political tactic through which we
would scramble our existing categories, create new ones and challenge the
valuing or prioritization of any one set of practices over another. The point
Wray makes in contrasting bicycling and driving is to challenge the privilege
accorded to motoring practices. However, he also re-inscribes the car/bike
hierarchy as he seeks to value the very characteristics through which cycling
has been devalued.
The
second and third chapters contrast the politics and culture of bike riding in
the Netherlands and the United States. Wray explains bicycle culture in the
Netherlands in terms of a sense of shared responsibility and a political
pragmatism that was brought to bear on the 1960s/1970s backlash against the
motor vehicle. This explanation prepares the ground for a discussion of cycling
and motoring in relation to the core American values of individualism and
materialism. He is specifically concerned with whether and how cycling and
motoring foster and extend each of these values. The “myth” of individualism,
and its strong links to materialism, are explained as the outcome of the
country’s Protestant roots, (initial) fluid class system and the stories
Americans tell about their long frontier history. This individualism was transformed
through the process of industrialization where it was reconstituted as
“personal product choices” (61).
It is
within this context that the motor vehicle figures as a symbol and mechanism
for the further elaboration of consumption and individualism. The motorcar
represents the U.S.’s extreme form of individualism— isolation and separation.
Writing in the lead-up to the 2008 election campaign, Wray argues that growing
disillusionment and discontent in the United States provides fertile ground for
alternative cultural norms. The bicycle is a symbol of that alternative.
Importantly, Wray links the bicycle to both a “tamer” form of individualism and
community cohesion. Rather than the bicycle being a “private” means of
transport, Wray emphasizes the particular social interactions it enables
thereby making a powerful challenge to the traditional public/private transport
dichotomy.
The
second half of Pedal Power is devoted to challenging current cultural
norms, the mechanisms by which participation in everyday cycling is being
encouraged and the role of different players working inside and outside formal
political processes to revalue the bicycle. Wray devotes a chapter each to the
role of: individual cyclists and advocates who provide alternative ways of
seeing and being in the world; bike advocacy groups which reinforce each other
as they lobby for funding and legislative changes from the national through to
the local scale; bicycle activism that engages the wider citizenry in bicycle
politics by encouraging participation in myriad bike-related activities; and
sympathetic politicians who can influence legislation and funding decisions to
further the interests of cycling. These chapters are alive with detail as Wray
offers numerous examples of the people, groups, activities, and legislative
changes he believes are facilitating a culture of bicycle use and political
change.
Image: Mary Kate McDevitt
Dr Jennifer Bonham is a senior lecturer in the School of Social
Sciences, University of Adelaide. She has a background in human geography
specializing in urbanization and cultural practices of travel. Her research
focuses on devalued mobilities as it explores the complex relationship between
bodies, spaces, practices, and meanings of travel. Her current research
explores the gendering of cycling. Jennifer’s work is informed by a concern for
equitable and ecologically sustainable cities.
Contact details: School of
Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
jennifer.bonham@adelaide.edu.au
This excerpt is from: Bonham, J. (2011). Bicycle
politics: Review essay. Transfers, 1(1), 137.
doi:10.3167/trans.2011.010110.
Images included here are not part of the original
publication.
Work on my community bicycle PhD research project requires me to read a lot of academic literature on bikes. Whilst it is my immense pleasure, there is always more to read. Recently, I came across a review essay by Dr Jennifer Bonham (University of Adelaide) that summarised and appraised three key (and popular) American ‘bicycle politics’ books. This essay a very interesting read as it identifies critical histo-politico-social aspects of bicycling from each of the books in an accessible, succinct and thoughtful way. Woohoo! What a gift! So here is Dr Bonham’s full essay IDEAS IN MOTION: ON THE BIKE as a series of four blog posts. This first post covers the intro and background, followed by three more – one post each reviewing, in turn, the three bicycle books below. A massive thank you to Jennifer for her analytical synthesis explaining why riding a bike is a political act. Enjoy! NG.
Wray, J. H. (2008). Pedal power: The quiet rise of the bicycle in American public life. Boulder, CA: Paradigm Publishers.
Furness, Z. (2010). One less car: Bicycling and the politics of automobility. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Mapes, J. (2009). Pedalingrevolution: How cyclists are changing American cities. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.
Since the mid-1990s,
bicycling has been identified as a solution to problems ranging from climate
change and peak oil to urban livability, congestion and public health. A
plethora of guidelines, strategies, policy statements, plans and behavior
change programs have been produced— especially in industrialized countries—in
an effort to encourage cycling. Despite many localities registering increases
in cycling over the past decade, English-speaking countries such as Australia,
Canada, the United Kingdom and United States continue to have extremely low
national rates of cycling. The benefits of cycling are widely accepted and
barriers well documented but changes are slow, uneven, and often contested. The
disjuncture between government rhetoric and commitment to bicycling (via
legislation, funding, infrastructure) foregrounds the broader cultural and
political context within which cycling is located.
Implementing pro-cycling1 policies is difficult in cultural contexts where bicycles/bicyclists are set in a hierarchical relation with automobiles/ motorists and the latter valued over the former. It is equally difficult to effect cultural change when decision makers fail to prioritize cycling on the political agenda. A key research problem has been to understand how the hierarchical relation between different travel practices has been established and reproduced. Often, this problem is approached by centering the automobile in the analysis:2 a tactic which positions the motor vehicle in a series of dichotomous relations with “other” travel practices—private/public, motorized/non-motorized, choice/captive.
Such dichotomous
approaches have been widely criticized for re-creating rather than undermining
established hierarchies.3
An alternative tactic
involves unpicking the mechanisms through which these categories are produced
and bodies are differentially valued. Recently the bike has been placed at the
centre of the analysis in an effort to unsettle its persistent marginalization.
However, this type of analysis will be limited if it simply reproduces the
bicycle/automobile dichotomy.
Throughout the late
twentieth century, “cyclists” and everyday practices of cycling have been
constituted through concepts and research practices within the field of
transport and positioned as problematic—in terms of safety, efficiency,
orderliness. But the past 15 years4 have
seen researchers from a range of disciplines—health, political science,
geography, sociology, urban planning and transport—creating new “versions” of
cycling.5
As they centre
bicycling in their work and offer recommendations on “what is lacking” and
“what should change” they also provide insights into the mechanisms by which
cyclists have been explicitly excluded from or marginalized within public
space, academic study and public policy. This literature is a fundamental part
of political and cultural change not so much for the veracity of its claims but
in re-constituting cycling as an object of study and opening the path to
alternative ways of thinking about and practicing mobility.
From the early 2000s,
there has been a steady growth in research into practices of cycling and
cycling sub-cultures.6
Arguably, this
ethnographically oriented work can be traced to Michel de Certeau’s seminal
essay Walking in the City,7 which made apparent the historical and
cultural specificity of contemporary travel practices. There has been a steady
growth in research into particular travel/mobility practices and sub-cultural
groups who identify through their mobility.8 The study of local cycling groups and
cycling sub-cultures challenges hegemonic meanings, which devalue bicycling,
and offers alternative mobility futures. They can also link bike riders to more
mainstream values and beliefs thereby questioning their marginal status. The
very practice of riding a bike and/ or being part of a cycling sub-culture is
implicitly political as it challenges dominant forms of mobility. However, some
individuals and sub-cultural groups are explicitly political as they use the
subject position of cyclist as a means by which to resist exclusion and
advocate for bike riding.
The books reviewed in this paper examine the bicycle culture-politics nexus in the context of the United States. They provide explanations for the marginalization of cycling but more particularly they are concerned with how to bring about change. Each author addresses culture and politics to different degrees, recognizing them as inextricably linked but emphasizing one or the other in their analyses. They draw upon research from health and environmental sciences, architecture, urban, and transport planning to support their arguments rather than reflecting on this knowledge as a fundamental part of contemporary culture or cultural change. Culture is discussed in terms of the sites through which meanings are attached to cycling—especially film and television, literature, advertising, and news reporting—and how these are being challenged through the bicycle cultures and everyday mobility practices that form part of a growing social movement in cycling.
Image: Bikeyface.com
Notes
Pedestrians, public transport users, scooter riders, roller bladers and so forth could be included along with cycling.
For example, James Flink, The Car Culture (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1975); Peter Freund and George Martin, The Ecology of the Automobile (Montreal: Black Rose Books Ltd 1993); Mimi Sheller and John Urry, “The City and the Car,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24 no. 4 (2000): 737–757.
Feminists from Butler to Hekman have been at the forefront of this critique. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (New York: Routledge, 1990); Susan Hekman, The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010).
This timeline reflects research into everyday cycling in English-speaking countries.
Borrowing Annemarie Mol’s theorization of different versions of reality, I want to suggest we do not have a single object (the cyclist) which is studied through a different lens by each discipline; rather we create the cyclist in different ways through the methodologies we use within each discipline. Annemarie Mol, The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002).
The Ethnographies of Cycling workshop held at Lancaster University in 2009 included presentations from a number of researchers working in this area since the early 2000s. http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/centres/cemore/event/2982/
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
Dr Jennifer Bonham is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide. She has a background in human geography specializing in urbanization and cultural practices of travel. Her research focuses on devalued mobilities as it explores the complex relationship between bodies, spaces, practices, and meanings of travel. Her current research explores the gendering of cycling. Jennifer’s work is informed by a concern for equitable and ecologically sustainable cities.
Contact details: School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide,
Adelaide 5005, Australia. jennifer.bonham@adelaide.edu.au
This excerpt is from: Bonham, J. (2011). Bicycle politics: Review essay. Transfers, 1(1), 137. doi:10.3167/trans.2011.010110.
Images included here are not part of the original publication.
