Emerging cycling policy in Moscow,Russia: The role of international policy transfer

Over the past four decades, commuter cycling has become a planning issue in cities that did not have established cycling cultures. This category includes post-Socialist cities with recent and strong automobility systems and limited cycling planning experiences. This article seeks to demonstrate how transfer of policy ideas from other contexts has contributed to the emergence of cycling policies in the largest post-Socialist city, Moscow, Russia, in the mid 2000s - 2016. Policy transfer means the diverse processes of acquiring policy ideas from other planning contexts and adapting this knowledge to shape local policies. The article is based on the results of a study that combined policy transfer questions with policy ethnography methodology that entailed prolonged field work and interviews with diverse policy actors and beneficiaries. This article aims to answer a question: How did policy learning, transfer and translation contribute to the emergence of Moscow's cycling policy? The article concludes that policy transfer facilitated cycling planning in Moscow by providing fast solutions, informing and legitimizing policy decisions, and temporarily leveraging cyclists' advocacy efforts. However, policy learning and transfer do not guarantee acceptance or successful implementation of policies. Integration of cycling into transport policies depends on an interplay of local institutional, political, and socio-spatial factors that influence decision-making. Constraints to implementing cycling policies include a peculiar car-culture, technocratic planning with a significant role of state actors and other elite groups, and insufficient opportunities for Moscow's cycling community to influence policy-making. These findings contribute to the transport policy and geography literature by exploring the role of policy transfer in cycling planning and by focusing on a less known transport policy context: post-Socialist cities outside the European Union.     

What about people in cycle network planning? applying participative multicriteria GIS analysis in the case of the Athens metropolitan cycle network

The bicycle is gaining ground as an inexpensive, fast, healthy, and enjoyable mode of transport, but the development of cycle infrastructures appears to be a necessary prerequisite for supporting further growth in cycling rates. Thus far, few studies have developed comprehensive methodologies for the prioritisation of cycling infrastructure investments, and the role of end users has been underestimated in this process. The unique relationship that cyclists develop with the bicycle itself, their co-cyclists, bicycle facilities, and the urban environment as a result of sensory, kinaesthetic, symbolic, or even political reasons can assist in designing cycle facilities that are more efficient and closer to fulfilling the needs and desires of users. We propose a comprehensive four-step methodology for cycle network planning, which both accounts for the city structure and the zones in which higher cycling demand is possible and uses participative multicriteria GIS processes to incorporate cyclists’ views with regard to choosing the cycle network segments. Our case study is Athens, Greece, where cycling facilities are few and heavily fragmented, although cycling demand has recently grown. This methodology may be useful for cities attempting to introduce and prioritise cycling infrastructures because it focuses on determining where cyclists would prefer to cycle to make such investments more successful in attracting users.     

The planned and the perceived city: A comparison of cyclists' and decision-makers' views on cycling quality

IntroductionTraffic jams, congestion and pollution demand sustainable modes of transport. To increase the appeal of cycling, bicycle-users' perceptions and needs should be acknowledged by decision-makers. However, traditional transport planning mainly focuses on quantitative, infrastructural data. To address this gap, this study explores to what extent decision-makers are aware of cyclists' needs and perceptions. Furthermore, the study compares the assessments about cycling of decision-makers and cyclists in the city of Leipzig, Germany.MethodsQualitative Interviews with 13 cyclists and similarly structured interviews with 6 experts from politics and planning were compared using qualitative content analysis. Two main topics were examined: (1) the reasons for cycling and (2) the perceived environment (built, natural and individually perceived). To integrate the spatial context, the interviewees draw sketch maps which were analyzed and compared using geo-information systems.ResultsExperts assume that main roads with cycling infrastructure are decisive for fast and safe cycling and cyclists agree with this statement. However, cyclists further refer to the positive effects of green spaces, the experience of the natural environment (e.g. fresh air) as well as the healthy and recreational effect of cycling. Cyclists prefer taking side roads and are prepared to use detours to integrate the natural environment and avoid traffic jams, noise and air pollution – these aspects were rarely acknowledged by decision-makers.DiscussionWe conclude that urban planners need to involve cyclists' perceptions more explicitly. Integrating cyclists' experiences in planning processes using sketch maps and interviews are beneficial, complementing quantitative approaches to enhance the understanding of cyclist behavior. The findings are essential to stress the importance of participatory approaches in urban planning to promote a sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly urban development appropriate to citizens' needs.     

Fear of cycling: Social,spatial, and temporal dimensions

Objective and perceived risk, danger, and safety concerns are often identified as barriers to taking up cycling. While a vast literature examines cycling safety, risk, and danger, little research examines relationships between fear and cycling, i.e. the emotional experience of risk, danger, and safety concerns. This paper addresses this research gap by exploring the fears reported by recent immigrants who are new cyclists in Toronto, Canada. Cyclists expressed many different types of fear; their fears were dynamic and possessed social, temporal, and spatial qualities. The two most frequent fears participants described were fear of injury and fear for personal safety. Fear of injury varied across the city and by time of day. It was also shaped by past cycling experiences, while appearing to attenuate with the accumulation of cycling skills. Fear of injury can also be social; and the primary focus herein is on how it can be gendered. For instance, gendered access to opportunities to cycle throughout the life course can shape cycling fear(s). Fear for personal safety was primarily expressed by women, was often shaped by past experiences of street harassment, and changed throughout the day, across the city, and was understood in relation to other places. Participants also described fears related to bicycle theft, getting lost, encountering mechanical problems, and getting in trouble with law enforcement.     

Pedalling towards equity: Exploring women's cycling in a New Zealand city

Although the benefits of cycling are well-known, in New Zealand, women cycle much less than men. This qualitative research took a feminist intersectional approach and interviewed 49 women in six focus groups, to explore their experiences as women who knew how to cycle, and wished to cycle more. Participants, who were all based in one city, included two ethnic groups (Māori and non-Māori) and three age groups (adolescents, mothers with children at home, and older women), giving a range over the life-course and including an innovative study of Māori women's cycling. Topics covered included learning to ride as a child, experiences with traffic, topography and other local issues, feelings about cycling and taking an imagined ride. Results revealed the challenge and joys of cycling, what is normal and not normal in cycling, and a double or triple burden affecting women in terms of safety: perceptions of traffic danger; personal safety as women; and the need to be safety-conscious because of responsibilities for others. Differences between Māori and non-Māori arose in context of varying household types, access to bicycles and cultural perspectives on cycling. Participants were clear about how to support women cycling: safe and connected cycling infrastructure, and systems that normalise women's cycling, with national and local government policies to support these.     

Exploring social-ecological influences on commuter cycling in a midsize northern city: A qualitative study in Thunder Bay,Canada

Cycling is a healthy, affordable, and sustainable mode of transportation which offers myriad co-benefits to individuals and society at large. Despite these benefits, cycling remains underutilized as a mode of transportation, particularly in midsize cities and northern climates across North America. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) explore the lived experiences and social-ecological determinants of utilitarian cycling in the context of a midsize city located in a northern climate, and (2) examine differences in social-ecological influences on utilitarian cycling between cyclists with and without access to a vehicle for transportation. Thirty cyclists over 18 years of age participated in semi-structured interviews. Data collected during the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis to describe the lived experiences of utilitarian cycling and to identify social-ecological determinants of utilitarian cycling. Fourteen key themes emerged from the data, confirming previous research illustrating that utilitarian cycling experiences, practices, and behaviours are determined by a plurality of interacting individual, social and cultural, regulatory and policy, and environmental factors. Across the study sample, differences in the experiences those of cyclists with and without access to a vehicle for transportation were identified across all levels of the social-ecological model. Drawing on our findings, we discuss three key lessons that highlight opportunities for promoting cycling as a mode of transportation in midsize and northern cities in North America in particular. These lessons include: 1) recognizing and addressing the influence of car culture; 2) shifting focus towards utilitarian cycling, and 3) identifying opportunities for addressing winter-related barriers. By drawing on the lived experiences of utilitarian cyclists, this research provides important directives for future policy-making, programming, and infrastructure development for the purposes of promoting cycling as a mode of transportation in other midsize cities in similar environments.     

Cycling down under: a comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies in Sydney and Melbourne

The purpose of this paper is to document and explain differences in cycling between Australia’s two largest cities. Our comparative case study analysis is based on a wide range of statistical datasets, secondary reports, and interviews with a panel of 22 bicycling policy and planning experts. The main finding is that cycling levels in Melbourne are roughly twice as high as in Sydney and have been growing three times as fast in recent years. The difference is due to Melbourne’s more favorable topography, climate, and road network as well as more supportive public policies. In particular, Melbourne has more and better integrated cycling infrastructure as well as more extensive cycling programs, advocacy, and promotional events. Melbourne also benefits from safer cycling than Sydney, which suffers from a lack of traffic-protected cycling facilities and aggressive motorist behavior toward cyclists on the road. While cycling has been increasing in Australia, it remains at very low levels relative to northern Europe, where both land use and transport policies are far more supportive of bicycling while discouraging car use through numerous restrictions and financial disincentives.     

Motives,perceptions and experiences of electric bicycle owners and implications for health,wellbeing and mobility

The sale of electrically assisted bicycles (‘e-bikes’) is growing at a rapid rate across Europe. Whereas market data is available describing sales trends, there is limited understanding of the experience of early adopters of e-bike technology. This paper investigates the motives for e-bike purchase, rider experience and perceived impact on mobility, health and wellbeing through in-depth interviews with e-bike owners in the Netherlands and the UK.Findings revealed that the motive for purchasing e-bikes was often to allow maintenance of cycling against a backdrop of changing individual or household circumstances. E-bikes also provided new opportunities for people who would not otherwise consider conventional cycling. Perceptions of travel behaviour change revealed that e-biking was replacing conventional cycling but was also replacing journeys that would have been made by car. There was also a perception that e-biking has increased, or at least allowed participants to maintain, some form of physical activity and had benefitted personal wellbeing. Technological, social and environmental barriers to e-biking were identified. These included weight of bicycle, battery life, purchase price, social stigma and limitations of cycle infrastructure provision.Additional research is necessary to quantify actual levels of mode substitution and new journey generation among new e-bike owners and the impact of e-biking on promoting physical health and mental wellbeing.     

Divergent infrastructure: Uncovering alternative pathways in urban velomobilities

In recent decades, cycling facilities have moved to the forefront of many urban-planning and climate-action initiates. Yet much of the research and policy developments in sustainable transportation are concentrated in high-investment areas, with sparse attention to travel conditions in low-income localities. Drawing from ethnographic methods, this paper explores socio-spatial inequalities and struggles for transportation space within the Mexican bajío. Focusing on the city of Aguascalientes and its outskirts, I explore the implementation of cycling facilities in a context of rapid-freeway expansion, neoliberal restructuring and public-transit divestment. Specifically, this paper analyzes the fragmented implementation of cycling lanes in certain areas of the city, while drawing attention to the experiences of low-income and peri-urban cyclists who operate at the margins of broader motor-vehicle infrastructure. In contexts of widespread spatial exclusions, I suggest that a focus on these commuters' mobility is needed to account for both the planned and inadvertent strategies that they assemble to bypass transportation barriers. What types of temporary bridges, improvised technologies and alternative pathways—what I define as divergent infrastructure—do cyclists configure when standardized systems fail to meet their present needs?     

Visualising where commuting cyclists travel using crowdsourced data

Encouraging more cycling is increasingly seen as an important way to create more sustainable cities and to improve public health. Understanding how cyclists travel and how to encourage cycling requires data; something which has traditionally been lacking. New sources of data are emerging which promise to reveal new insights. In this paper, we use data from the activity tracking app Strava to examine where people in Glasgow cycle and how new forms of data could be utilised to better understand cycling patterns. We propose a method for augmenting the data by comparing the observed link flows to the link flows which would have resulted if people took the shortest route. Comparing these flows gives some expected results, for example, that people like to cycle along the river, as well as some unexpected results, for example, that some routes with cycling infrastructure are avoided by cyclists. This study proposes a practical approach that planners can use for cycling plans with new/emerging cycling data.     

Port activities and the spatial structure of cities: the case of Freetown, Sierra Leone

Port activities often give rise to distinctive regions within their town or city and it might be expected that they would have on effect on the spatial differentiation and spatial structure of urban areas. However, urban spatial theory appears to ignore this possibility, urban structure models having little or nothing to say about the role of port activities in shaping the spatial structure of towns and cities. Given this, the paper investigates the possibility of port activities having influenced the spatial structure of Freetown, Sierra Leone. It discusses the historical development of the port and city as a framework for consideration of the role of port activities in shaping the growing urban area. Attention is focused particularly on those areas where the influence is clearest, i.e. the central area with its concentration of business, commercial and administrative activities, and on the location of modern industrial areas in the emerging metropolitan area. Other factors that have shaped the urban area are discussed also. It is argued that, whilst port activities have been important historically, other influences have become more significant as the basis of the economy has broadened, the structure of society has become more complex and the city has assumed additional functions. The findings are tested by a brief and preliminary examination of other port-cities in tropical Africa, establishing that spatial associations between port activities and the central business area and between them and industrial areas are common.     

Children aged 9-14 living in disadvantaged areas in England: Opportunities and barriers for cycling

The aim of this paper is to take a holistic perspective to explore levels of cycling and opportunities and barriers to increase children’s safer cycling in disadvantaged areas in England. The study was one part of a larger study which explored the factors underlying the high level of road traffic casualties especially among children in the most disadvantaged areas of England and to explore how this impacts on mobility and quality of life. The methods involved a cross sectional survey comprising school based questionnaire surveys with children aged 9-14 and focus groups with parents who had children within this age range. The surveys were conducted in 2007 and the focus groups during 2008. 4286 children completed the survey and eight focus groups were held. Bike ownership (77%) was high, use in previous week moderate (39%) but only 2% cycled to school. Ownership was significantly lower in minority ethnic groups. Despite young children’s strong preference to travel by cycle (30%) than walk or go by car, most parents felt it was too hazardous. It is unlikely that these findings would be any different from the rest of England, however the combination of environmental and social factors may elevate the risks for young cyclists in these areas. This paper concludes that a number of barriers exist to increasing levels of cycling among children living in disadvantaged areas particularly amongst ethnic groups. These barriers could be addressed by environmental modifications to reduce speeds and by reducing the levels of antisocial driving and riding in residential areas and around destinations where children travel, by providing cycle training to improve children’s skills and parent’s confidence, and by providing secure storage facilities for bikes. Until these barriers are addressed it is unlikely that cycling will increase despite the strong preferences children have to travel by bike. Such preferences to cycle provide an opportunity for local authorities to act on.     

Understanding the value and vulnerability of informal infrastructures: Footpaths in Quito

Walking remains the primary means of travel in informal settlements of the Global South because of the limited ability of municipal governments to provide formal transport infrastructure. To cope, residents create footpaths through a bottom-up approach. Using a case study of informal settlements in Quito, this paper offers the first study of the process through which people settled in these spaces shape footpaths as informal walking infrastructures to enable everyday mobility. The paper draws on data collected over an eighteen-month period from archives, field notes from participatory observations, records of in-depth interviews, and interviews “on the go” with pedestrians to show how this infrastructure enables informal settlements' residents to access everyday destinations in shorter times, less expensively, and (often) more safely than alternatives. We show how these informal infrastructures build on centuries old practices of collective footpath building that form an essential part of local culture, and how urban processes and infrastructural development in the core city shape the production, transformation and disappearance of footpaths in informal settlements. Significantly, these findings contribute to a fuller understanding of the value and vulnerability of informal infrastructures that can inform wider studies of walking and informal infrastructure. The paper concludes by identifying the challenges and opportunities to promote informal infrastructures as a mainstream element of mobility in the city and support a more sustainable path to urban development.     

Environmental determinants of cycling: Not seeing the forest for the trees?

In recent years, the volume of studies in the fields of transport and urban planning seeking to identify environmental determinants or correlates of cycling has expanded dramatically. This viewpoint wishes to put forward a provocative argument: namely, that while further research in this area might refine our theoretical understanding of certain issues, it is unlikely to deliver any fundamentally new policy-relevant insights as to what measures need to be taken in order to increase urban cycling rates. At present, the difficulties faced by the vast majority of cities across the world in encouraging cycling are not derived from a lack of theoretical knowledge, but are fundamentally practical and political in nature. From a practical perspective, I argue that we already know enough about what needs to be done in order to encourage cycling in the vast majority of urban contexts. The problem with the seemingly endless proliferation of research on the relationship between cycling and environmental characteristics, I suggest, is that it risks giving the impression that there is some fundamental unresolved uncertainty about what is needed to make a city more cycling-friendly, when this is simply not the case. Instead of focusing on cycling itself, I suggest that exploring the phenomenon of traffic evaporation may be a more fruitful way for researchers to advance the cause of urban cycling.     

Cycling case closed? A situated response to Samuel Nello-Deakin's “Environmental determinants of cycling: Not seeing the forest for the trees?”

This paper responds to Samuel Nello-Deakin's (2020) recent viewpoint, where he provocatively states that we already know enough of what is necessary to get more people to cycle: taking road space away from motor vehicles and ceding it to cyclists is a simple formula applicable in most cities around the world, provided there is political will. Further research, he claims, is unlikely to deliver new policy insights. This paper cautions against universalising the experiences of European “cycling cities” and suggests that turning to cities of the global South can animate cycling research in promising new directions. Fundamentally, it argues that it is necessary to situate cycling research and proposes worlding cycling research as a strategy to move away from Eurocentric visions of cycling cities. In doing so, it proposes avenues for further enquiry that take seriously the complex political challenges faced by cities of the global South, as well as the particular desires, aspirations and innovations of their inhabitants.     

A nodal approach for estimating potential cycling demand

Establishing cycling as a prominent utility mode is recognised as central to creating sustainable transport systems in many cities around the world. Strategies of starter cycling cities are often biased to the supply of infrastructure along prominent corridors without acknowledging the nature, quantum or location of potential demand for cycling. Decisions are frequently left to local knowledge and experience of local needs, resulting in a bias with little opportunity for repeatability or reproducibility. This study proposes a data-driven approach to estimate the potential market for cycling geographically. Estimates are based on the number of potential cyclists in close proximity to the destinations they want to access. The paper demonstrates the method using Cape Town, South Africa as a case study. Given the virtual absence of utility cycling in the city, characteristics of cyclists in cities where cycling is popular are used to identify potential cyclists. Destination nodes are stratified in terms of the characteristics of their users, while home locations of persons with these characteristics are identified from a publicly available synthetic population for Cape Town. Analysis provides an order of magnitude indication of the cycling potential of selected nodes. It also shows areas with many potential cyclists that are not in proximity of desired destination. The results enable city authorities to focus detailed investigations and interventions where a critical mass of cycling may be achieved with the least effort and in the shortest time.     

Mode substitution effect of urban cycle tracks: Case study of a downtown street in Toronto,Canada

With the growing environmental and health concerns associated with automobile dependence, municipalities across the Western world are investing in cycling facilities to encourage drivers and transit users to take up cycling as a mode of transportation, a process that is known as the travel mode substitution. This study explored the potential impact of cycle tracks on short-term travel mode substitution behavior. We present a case study of Sherbourne Street, located in downtown Toronto, Canada, that was redeveloped in 2012 to include a cycle track that replaced an existing bicycle lane. A street intercept survey was conducted in Fall, 2014, to record quantitative data on current and retrospective travel behaviors of cyclists (n = 214). A mode substitution effect was observed, with 38% of the respondents reporting that they would use travel modes other than cycling before the Sherbourne Street redevelopment, for making a trip to their current destination; the majority of them were previously transit users. Binary logistic regression models indicated that younger cyclists were less likely to substitute a car trip for a cycling trip. Those who did not use Sherbourne Street previously were more likely to substitute their travel mode. Improved safety was the most commonly reported reason for mode substitution. This study contributes to a limited literature by providing much needed insights into the impacts of cycle tracks on travel behavior in a North American context. This paper can also inform the development of easy-to-implement survey/audit tools to be used by professionals at the community level.     

Can the built environment explain gender gap in cycling? An exploration of university students' travel behavior in Toronto,Canada

The benefits of cycling as a healthier and more sustainable transportation alternative to private automobile is emphasized in both literature and policy. One key policy challenge in improving cycling rates is the significant gender gap in cycling that exists across urban regions in North America. In this study, travel behavior of >10,000 students attending four universities in Toronto, Canada, was analyzed to explore gender-based differences in cycling uptake. The mode share for cycling was higher for non-commute trips (9%) when compared to commuting trips to universities (7.6%). In addition, men had higher cycling rates than women, for both commute and non-commute trips. Results from binomial logistic regression models indicate that the built environment-related correlates were different between male and female students, and between commute and non-commute trips. Access to bicycle lanes or cycle tracks was found to increase the odds of female commuter cycling. This effect, however, was moderate in the neighborhoods with higher land use mix. Further, high-speed traffic was a significant barrier to cycling among female commuters. Noticeably, our analysis did not find major gender-based differences in the coefficients relating to travel attitudes and preferences. The findings provide a Canadian comparison to the limited international research on this topic, as well as offer new insights particularly relating to cycling for non-commute trips. The results identify potential avenues for policy intervention regarding the promotion of healthy and sustainable travel behavior among post-secondary students, and more broadly, the millennial generation.