Understanding Urban Cycling: Exploring the Relationship Between Mobility, Sustainability and Capital

Academic interest in cycling has grown, with a focus on its health and environmental benefits, infrastructure, and embodied experiences. This book argues that cycling is increasingly caught up in discourses around smart cities and neoliberal ideas, prioritizing those who are already mobile. It suggests that cycling has become a vehicle for sustaining pro-growth agendas rather than subverting them or shifting to sustainable no-growth/de-growth visions of modernity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 226 pages
Publication date: 29 October 2020
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Academic interest in cycling has surged in recent years, driven by a wealth of literature exploring the health and environmental benefits of cycling, the need for cycle-specific infrastructure, and the embodied experiences of cycling. Through comprehensive primary research conducted in diverse contexts like London, Shanghai, and Taipei, this book uncovers a profound connection between recent developments in urban cycling policy and practice and broader processes of capital accumulation. It argues that cycling has become increasingly entangled in discourses surrounding smart cities, which prioritize technological solutions to environmental problems and neoliberal notions of individual responsibility and bio-political conduct. This approach, the book suggests, leads to solutions that predominantly benefit those who are already mobile, perpetuating social and environmental inequalities.

However, the book does not argue that the popularization of cycling is inherently problematic. Instead, it raises concerns about the manner in which cycling is being promoted, leading to social and environmental concerns. The central argument of the book is that cycling has evolved into a vehicle for sustaining pro-growth agendas rather than challenging or shifting towards sustainable no-growth or de-growth visions of modernity.

This book offers a groundbreaking contribution to the fields of Cycling Studies, Mobilities, and Transport, appealing to students and academics engaged in Human Geography, Transport Studies, Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Public Policy, Sociology, and Sustainability. By delving into the intricate relationships between cycling, urban development, and capital accumulation, it provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics shaping our cities and societies.

Weight: 498g
Dimension: 161 x 242 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138543225