ABSTRACT
In the last two decades cycling has made its way back onto the urban transport agendas of many cities across the world. Whilst some, like Copenhagen and Amsterdam, are the accepted epicentres and templates (and most researched) of cycling cities, this chapter introduces London, Shanghai and Taipei as case studies to examine the cycling renaissance.
A closer look at almost all cycling cities reveals that most cycle journeys are to get to and from work, with much lower numbers engaged in ‘social cycling’ for leisure, journeys to school and social reproduction. As this suggests, cycling is largely encouraged as a commuter mode which does little to question the persistent idea that more mobility is good. Moreover, the appeal of cycling is largely limited to a (male, white, middle-class, able-bodied) demographic who have the simple journeys, freedom from caring responsibilities and the cultural status (or lack of it) necessary to engage in cycling. In cities like London, the demographic profile is narrow – the average cyclist is a white middle-aged man on a good income. In cities like Shanghai and Taipei the opposite problem is evident, with cycling’s lowly status meaning that most cyclists are from low-income and student populations. This chapter introduces the three featured cities (London, Shanghai and Taipei) and starts to unpick the recent success story of cycling to ask the question why we see cycling manifest in particular ways and what might be some of the implications for this with regard to sustainability.
