The role of a community bicycle shop in cycling policies: the case of Lisbon

May 2013

This paper presents a Lisbon bicycle collective, "Cicloficina dos Anjos", which has been operating for two years, fostering voluntary bicycle repair, maintenance and community involvement. Its main features, principles and results are outlined and related to the broader context of the lately sustainable mobility policies, issues and initiatives that have been affecting Lisbon's blooming bicycle community. Albeit bicycle sheds and collectives are an internationally known phenomenon, particularly in cities with a bicycle commuting population, this paper pretends to expose this unique approach to bicycle advocacy In a recent series of articles, Pucher et al. have assessed which public interventions are correlated with an increase in bicycling, in several cities. Through the evaluation of interventions as infrastructure, integration with public transport, education and marketing programs, bicycle access programs, and legal issues, the authors concluded that it is risky to propose a single measure as universally effective; the coordination of various of these policies and its mutual influence seem to be the most reasonable way of promoting a more bicycle-friendly city. Since this multifaceted set of interventions is not completely covered by Lisbon´s municipality agenda, "Cicloficina dos Anjos" had the chance to develop its own strategy, thus favoring a more grass-root and participatory project. In Pucher et al. categorization, its activities fall under the "Education/Training", "Promotional" and other bicycle access programs (loaner programs, fleet programs, and service and repair programs) which are led by local community organizations in each city. The authors recognize that although there aren't sound evaluations of their impact in bicycling, these programs hint at the importance of acquiring skills and confidence in bicycle ownership and use. Drawing on Illich's concept of conviviality as a quality of technologies and institutions that increase human power and autonomy in a total sense, the paper details how the guiding philosophy at “Cicloficina dos Anjos” amounts not to increasing the number of bicycles commuters tout court, but how bicycle maintenance and a meeting point for exchange experiences can work as a solid community empowering activity, based on the simplicity of bicycle mechanics. Each session is based on three core principles: 1) free transfer of repairing knowledge and experiences, with the goal of asserting each commuter's 2 participation in the present and future maintenance processes; this points to a bounding of things and persons beyond simple monetary consumption; 2) recycling and revaluing abandoned bicycle parts and frames as ways of achieving financial and material self-sufficiency; this reverses the concept of "garbage" as synonymous with a product's uselessness, prolonging and safekeeping its life cycle, and therefore improving overall efficiency and reducing environmental and social costs; 3) open bicycle promotion and advocacy; every session functions also as a weekly rendezvous point for all the community, where one can discuss, for instance, the choice of the most adequate bicycle and route or which improvements can be made in the managing of “Cicloficina dos Anjos”. Finally, some media cover, institutional contacts and number of assisted commuters will be noticed, whilst underscoring the importance of a bottom-up social participation in bicycling advocacy.

Authors in the community:

• 

  R

  Rosa Melo Félix

  ist155593

  Affiliations and sources

  IST > CESUR

  Centro de Sistemas Urbanos e Regionais

  In: cienciavitae

  ID: 951421

• 

  G

  Gonçalo Gonçalves Duarte Santos

  ist46755

VoR - Version of Record

ICHC2013 – XXIV International Cycling History Conference

Lisboa

05/14/2013

social-and-economic-geography - Social and economic geography

eng - English