{"id":177358,"date":"2020-04-03T08:22:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T08:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=177358"},"modified":"2020-04-03T08:22:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T08:22:06","slug":"cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/03\/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclescapes of the Unequal City: A Look at Bicycles and Gentrification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fairly recently, riding a bicycle in the city was considered a radical statement or the last resort and few cyclists dared to enter the inhospitable streets. These days, the bicycle seems like the perfect means of transport to remedy our cities\u2019 congestion, battle climate change, air pollution, and the urban population\u2019s deteriorating health and fitness. Governments and city halls all over are putting in the effort by building cycle lanes, adjusting infrastructure, and making ambitious bike-friendly steps that appear to make cities more green, vibrant and liveable \u2013 a cycling renaissance of sorts, if you will. But some suggest that while cycling advocates mean nothing but well, their approaches might be the cause of uneven urban development.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John G. Stehlin is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and his book, Cyclescapes of the Unequal City: Bicycle Infrastructure and Uneven Development<\/i><\/a>, looks at the unwitting role our beloved bikes might be playing in the gentrification of our cities. The study focuses on today\u2019s North American cities but its essence and insights are thoroughly applicable to metropolises around the world. Besides infrastructural changes, cities and their leaders nowadays throw in the mix also bike share schemes that are supposed to promote the environmental, social, and economic health of the city and its residents. Cyclescapes of the Unequal City <\/i>contextualizes and critically dissects this new wave of bicycling in American cities that\u2019s covertly becoming a key symbol of unequal development.<\/p>\n

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People cycling on the cycle path at the Venice Beach, Los Angeles.\u00a0\u00a9 Robert Harding Productions \/ robertharding \/ Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grounding its analysis in regional political economy and neighbourhood-based ethnography,\u00a0Cyclescapes of the Unequal City <\/i>is\u00a0<\/i>a critical look at the political economy of urban bicycle infrastructure in the United States. It uses the bicycle as a prism to view major shifts in today\u2019s city and to address a growing interest in bicycling as an urban economic and environmental strategy, its role in the politics of gentrification, and efforts to build more diverse coalitions of bicycle advocates.<\/p>\n

The University of Minnesota Press<\/a> that published and sells the book states in the online description: \u201cJohn G. Stehlin traces bicycling\u2019s rise in popularity as a key policy solution for American cities facing the environmental, economic, and social contradictions of the previous century of sprawl. Using in-depth case studies from San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Detroit, he argues that the mission of bicycle advocacy has converged with, and reshaped, the urban growth machine around a model of liveable, environmentally friendly, and innovation-based urban capitalism. While advocates envision a more sustainable city for all, the deployment of bicycle infrastructure within the framework of the neoliberal city in many ways intensifies divisions along lines of race, class, and space.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Girl cycles behind people on the street in San Francisco, California. Locals ride the closed streets once a month on a Sunday.\u00a0\u00a9 Adam Gasson \/ Alamy \/ Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furthermore, Mimi Sheller, author of Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes<\/i><\/a>, said in a review of the book: \u201cThis comparative study underlines how race, class, and gender are formed in relation to mobility practices in urban space. For anyone interested in mobility justice, this book is a necessary read.” And we strongly agree.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re eager to learn more and can\u2019t wait for the book to be delivered or your favourite bookshop doesn\u2019t have it yet, listen to this great interview piece<\/a> by the KPFA radio on their periodical Against the Grain programme \u2013 they invited Mr Stehlin to discuss Cyclescapes of the Unequal City<\/i>. You\u2019ll learn about the main viewpoints in depth and hear what he thinks should be the ideal approach of bicycle advocates, how to humanize and socialize a city or what status the bicycle enjoyed or how it played into counterculture in different periods of history. Let us know your opinion on the topic in comments on the We Love Cycling Facebook page!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fairly recently, riding a bicycle in the city was considered a radical statement or the last resort and few cyclists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":177368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[4033,4034,4032],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-177358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urban-cycling","tag-cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city","tag-gentrification","tag-john-g-stehlin","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nCyclescapes of the Unequal City: A Look at Bicycles and Gentrification - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fairly recently, riding a bicycle in the city was considered a radical statement or the last resort and few cyclists dared to enter the inhospitable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/03\/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cyclescapes of the Unequal City: A Look at Bicycles and Gentrification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fairly recently, riding a bicycle in the city was considered a radical statement or the last resort and few cyclists dared to enter the inhospitable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/03\/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-03T08:22:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/Brooklyn-Cycling-CVR-profimedia-0380031356.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frantiska Blazkova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/03\/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/03\/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city-a-look-at-bicycles-and-gentrification\/\",\"name\":\"Cyclescapes of the Unequal City: A Look at Bicycles and Gentrification - 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