Note this syllabus is subject to change. Changes will be reflected on this page and announced in class. The hyperlink below the date of the class links to assignments for that day.
Aug 22
Introduction
Articles on Bicycling in Web of Science
Cycling Copenhagen: Through North American Eyes
Survey of My students on biking taken today
Aug 24
Introduction II
Reading, Mikael Colville-Anderson, “Mythbusting,” in Copenhagenize: The Definitive Guide to Global Bicycle Urbanism (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2018), 97-113; Marc Augé, In Praise of the Bike (London: Reaktion Books, 2019), 84-93.
Mikael Colville-Andersen is a Danish urbanist and promoter of bicycling. This excerpt comes form his book Copenhagenize, which attempts to show how other cities around the world can follow Copenhagen’s example with respect to bicycling. Have you heard these myths before here in Raleigh? Do you think Colville-Andersen effectively refutes them?
Marc Augé is an important French anthropologist. This excerpt from his book “In Praise of the Bike,” begins with an imagined future. What effects does Augé see following from “the pedal stroke effect”? What connection do you think he sees between the bicycle and all these positive outcomes? Do you think he is realistic? In what ways is a bicycle more than just a means of transportation to Augé? Are there any things Augé says that you agree with (or disagree with)?
Colville-Andersen and Augé are both pro-bike. Do you think their approaches are similar or different? In what ways?
Aug 29/31
The Big Picture: Sustainability, Modern Society, and Autonormativity: Will Teslas Save Us?
Sept 5 Labor Day No Class
Sept 7/12
In looking at technology, one of the big questions is whether technology adapts to the society or if technology can cause changes to society. What do you see in these readings?
James Longhurst, “The Right Sort of People,” in Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015), 31-79.
Do you think the Longhurst reading provides evidence that the bicycle in the 1890s was a democratic technology open to all? Did different groups see the bicycle differently? What does he mean that “the social markers of bicycling constrained its acceptance and political clout in North America.”? Why were cyclists “othered”? Why do you think the side path movement failed?
“THE BICYCLE AS A MORAL AGENT.: The Wheel’s Value in Character Development Discussed.,” New York Times, 1895.
How does this reading see the bicycle as a “Moral Agent”?
Raleigh News and Observer, Bicycle Edition, July 18, 1897 (browse)
In browsing through this special issue about the bicycle in Raleigh and the area, what strikes you? What is the bicycle like? Who uses it?
Do you think the bicycle was liberating for African-Americans? Why did whites see African-Americans use of the bicycle as threatening?
Sept 14 Bike Lab I: The Experience of Riding by Bike/Thinking about A Survey
Reading: Peter G. Furth, “Bicycling Infrastructure for All,” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021);
Group Discussion: The Experience of Riding by Bike
Sept 19 Philosophy /Politics
Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity (New York, Harper and Row, 1974), 3-19, 59-64; Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (New York: William Morrow, 1974), 1-28
We typically see greater energy as a positive/liberating thing. Why do we do that and does Illich agree? Illich says that a society’s equity is inversely proportional to its level of energy use. Why does he say that? Do you see anything in our society that supports or refutes Illich’s ideas? Read Pirsig substituting “Bicycle” for “motorcycle.” How does Pirsig’s experience of riding change his perceptions of the world? What does he believe people should know about their technology? How does he differ from his riding companions in that regard?
Sept 26/28 Policies
Sept 21. Policies: Making the United States Car Country
Lewis Mumford, “The Highway and the City,” in The Highway and the City (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanavich, 1963), 234-246.
Questions on Mumford
Walt Disney on Epcot (1966)
Are there any passages in this piece that you find particularly insightful or provocative? Which ones and why? Would you say Mumford is anti-car? What is he for and what is he against?
Sept 26 Policies (Europe): Making Bicycling Irresistible
“Amsterdam : World Bicycle Capital, by Chance,” in Cycling Cities : The European Experience, ed. R. Oldenziel et al. (Eindhoven: Foundation for the History of Technology, 2016), 17–27; John Pucher, Ralph Buehler, and Francis Sgm, “Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany,” Transport Reviews 28 (August 1, 2008): 495–528.
Factors in Dutch Cycling
Sept 28 Traffic Engineering Bike Lab (needs to be done by class time)
Oct 3. Safety/Law
Rune Elvik, “Cycling Safety,” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021); Joseph Stromberg, “Stop Forcing People to Wear Bike Helmets,” Vox, May 16, 2014, Charles Marohn, “Follow the Rules, Bikers,” Strong Towns, May 19, 2014,
Robert Thomas Dobler, “Ghost Bikes Memorialization and Protests on City Streets in Peter Jan Margry, Cristina Sánchez-Carretero, and Cristina Sánchez-Carretero, Grassroots Memorials: The Politics of Memorializing Traumatic Death (New York, NY, UNITED STATES: Berghahn Books, Incorporated, 2011),
Oct 5 Looking at Bicycling Deaths
Oct 10 No Class
Oct 12. Library Session
Oct 17 Greenways (1). Bill Flournoy
William Flournoy, A Report to the City Council on the Benefits, Potential, and Methodology of Establishing a Greenway System in Raleigh. (Raleigh, 1972)
Kristin Wing, An Interactive View of the Raleigh Greenway
Oct 24 Bicycle Advocacy: Oaks and Spokes
John Pucher et al., “Cycling Advocacy in Europe, North America, and Australia” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021);
Oct 26/31 Race, Gender and Age
Interviews with Cyclists
Brainstorming About Final Project
Karel Martens, Aaron Golub, and Andre Hamre, “Social Justice and Cycling,” in in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021); Jan Garrard, “Women and Cycling: Addressing the Gender Gap” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021); Melody Hoffmann, “Recruiting People Like You: Class-Based Recruitment and Bicycle Advocacy in Minneapolis,” in Bike Lanes are White Lanes: Bicycle Advocacy and Urban Planning (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016), 111-141.
Nov 2. E-bikes/Bike Sharing
Christopher R. Cherry and Elliot Fishman, “E-Bikes in Europe and North America,” and Elliot Fishman and Susan Shaheen, “ Bikesharing’s Ongoing Evolution and Expansion,” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher, eds., Cycling for Sustainable Cities, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2021)
Nov 7 Leading American Bike Cities: Portland, OR and Davis CA
Roger Geller and Ricardo Marques, “Implementation of Pro-bike Policies in Portland and Seville,” in Ralph Buehler and John R. Pucher eds. Cycling for Sustainable Cities (Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 2021), 371-386; Ted Buehler and Susan Handy, “Fifty Years of Bicycle Policy in Davis, California,” Transportation Research Record 2074, no. 1 (January 1, 2008): 52–57; Bicycling in Davis, CA : A Critical Look at Policy and Behavior in the First Platinum Bicycle City in the U.S. (video–starts at 3:15)
Portland, OR and Davis CA are the American cities that are held up as models for biking. What factors were important in the rise of the bicycle in these cities? Are they similar to the factors that were important in Amsterdam and Copenhagen? Do you think other American cities can learn from Portland and Davis or are these cities peculiar?
Bicycling in Portland, OR Fact Sheet
Nov 9 Remaking Cities: Paris/New York
“Inside the New Plan to Make Paris ‘100% Cyclable,’” Bloomberg.Com, October 22, 2021; Patrick Sisson, “How Paris Became a Cycling Success Story—and Built a Roadmap for Other Cities,” Curbed, January 15, 2020; Michael Kimmelman, “New York as a Biking City? It Could Happen. And It Should.,” The New York Times, July 9, 2020, sec. Arts; “RPA | The Five Borough Bikeway,” June 2020, New York City, Cycling in the City, Cycling Trends in NYC, September 2021
Nov 14 Raleigh Visit by Fontaine Burruss, Bicycle + Pedestrian Program Manager, City of Raleigh
Nov 16 NCSU
Nov 21. No Class –Work on Presentation
Nov 23 (no class)
Nov 28 Student presentations
Nov 30 Student presentations
Dec 5 Student presentations