Understand The Role Of Infrastructure In Cycling

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The role of infrastructure

To understand the role of the physical infrastructure in increasing the cycling levels, Hull and O’Holleran (2014) compare coherence, directness, attractiveness, safety and comfort of the bicycle network in six cities throughout the UK and the Netherlands. The research concludes that the design of bicycle infrastructure involves several spatial and behavioural factors; at a government level, policy must create the foundation for making motorised vehicles less necessary and convenient, while cycle promotion, at the local level, must integrate across policy levels, throughout spatial planning, transport, health and education, not just physical infrastructure. The study finds that good infrastructural design does encourage …show more content…

In the London-based case study (Steinbach et al., 2011) of how gendered, ethnic and class identities can shape healthy transport choices, it is shown that although Transport for London (TfL) spends resources on advertising to depict cycling as the healthiest choice, it only influences a small number of the citizens of London. Drawing on qualitative interview data with 78 individuals, it is shown how cycling as a ‘healthy choice’ mainly reaches well-educated white men. It digs in to the identity associated with cycling and how this is seen (in a London context) of something associated with road danger and aggression, while the aesthetics and symbolic goals of cycling are less appealing to those with other class, gender and ethnic identities. After 20 years of ‘pro-cycling’ policies in the UK, cycling is still not considered ‘normal’. Aldred (2013) explores the stigma related to cycling identities in the UK by drawing on interview data with 55 cyclists, showing how they are caught in-between appearing too competent and not competent enough. The cultural norms of the larger community are seen to influence the individual behaviour, also when it come to the behaviour of cyclists, and who chooses to identify themselves as cyclists. The study points at helmets and high-visibility clothing as being the‘uniform’, that some cyclists wear to look competent to other road users, and to fit in with the other cyclists. Aldred (2013) points out that the identity as a cyclist is highly stigmatised, both by other road users, as well as within the cycling community. Furthermore, Aldred points to how selling cycling as ‘healthy’ and ‘sporty’ may not resonate well with those who do not define themselves as neither healthy nor

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