Bicycle Parking and Locking: Ethnography of Designs and Practices. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Larsen, Jonas
• Is Part Of: Mobilities. Volume 12:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 75
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Bicycles -- Parking -- Designs -- Ethnography -- Practices; Transportation -- Periodicals; 300.5
• DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2014.993534
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-0101

Abstract

Abstract: Cars, trains, and bicycles are designed to be on the move. Mobilities studies have theorized and analyzed these modes of transport as powerful entities slicing through, and speeding-up, cities. Yet they also stand still, being parked and locked, immobilized and secured, until their next trip. This article contributes with new insights into parking and locking - 'moorings' - to cycling literature. It presents an ethnography of 'design moorings' and practices associated with parking and locking bikes. The main case study is the very pro-cycling city of Copenhagen. Yet to explore what is unique about Copenhagen, I had to travel to Amsterdam and New York City. This multi-sited approach opens up now surprises, and challenges distinctions between 'supportive' and 'lower cycling cities' by showing that parking infrastructures are widely perceived as poor in the pro-cycling Copenhagen.