I probably should not do this but..oh well..here it is...

I was keen to review “Cycling and Society” as I believe cycling is, in
most countries, an undervalued mode of transport that has the potential to
address some of the world’s transport problems. I saw a book with this
title having the potential to add to the debate. I was encouraged that
this may be the case when I read the back cover: “How can the social
sciences help us understand the past, present and potential futures of
cycling? This timely international and interdisciplinary collection
addresses this question, interrogating and discussing shifts in cycling
practices and attitudes and opening up important critical spaces for
thinking about the prospects for cycling. What is the place of cycling
within the broader framework of mobilities research? Where does it sit
within the policy framework? What role might it take in the context of
sustainable mobility futures?” Later it states that “With cycling
increasingly being promoted in car-dominated societies as a solution to
numerous social problems across a wide range of policy areas, this book
helps to open up a new field of cycling studies.” I was excited that this
book could really add to the debate. It did, partially.

“Cycling and Society” is essentially an edited collection of nine papers
that grew out of a symposium of social science research into cycling held
at Lancaster University in 2004. It consists of a range of papers from a
variety of disciplines, with a common focus of cycling. It starts with a
chapter by Justin Spinney that, in the words of the author, answers the
question “what makes people’s movement meaningful to them?” (p. 25). I saw
this chapter as a cultural analysis of the concept of space using cycling
as the vehicle (excuse the pun) on which to do this. It is interesting and
well written. However, in terms of addressing some of the questions posed
on the back cover of the book, it was only really the last section where
“these ideas might make a valuable contribution to the current thinking
which governs transport studies and the wider planning process” (p. 42). I
personally felt a few more paragraphs were needed here to further address
this.

The next chapter by Clare Simpson looks at women’s professional cycle
racing in the late-nineteenth century. It is an interesting historical
account of the subject that ties into issues of culture and gender
prepared by an author who has expertise in the field. However, it really
makes no attempt to live up to some of the promises of the back cover and
adds little, if anything, to current sustainable transport debates.

Chapter 3 by John Parkin, Tim Ryley and Tim Jones looked at quantitative
analyses in the context of some of the barriers to cycling. It initially
reviews some of the approaches in a very clear and effective way and then
used some to analyse some data and present the results. This is a chapter
I really enjoyed and it very clearly addressed some of the challenges
included on the back cover. In my mind it serves both as a good
introduction to quantitative methods but also presented some interesting
research. This chapter clearly appealed to my more quantitative side.

In Chapter 4, David Skinner and Paul Rosen examine issues of culture and
identity in relating to commuter cycling. I am far from being a cultural
geographer but thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter. It is well written
and adds real insights into the whole study of cycling, offering some
really useful cultural perspectives on the subject. Nicholas Oddy’s
chapter on cycling in the early twentieth century resembles Simpson’s
chapter in being a cultural historian’s analysis of the subject. It is
also nicely written by a well qualified author, but similarly adds little
to current sustainable transport debates. Peter Cox and Frederick Van De
Walle’s chapter also takes a historical look at cycling with a focus on
the development of technologies, using the Velomobile as the example. This
chapter is interesting and well written by qualified authors. It makes
some attempt to put this into the context of future transport issues by
framing some of the discussion in the context of the development of
non-motorised transport technologies, but generally I don’t feel it adds a
great deal to the back cover promises.

Chapter 7 by David Horton looks at the role of emotional barriers to
cycling with a focus on fear. While adopting a different approach to the
chapter of Parkin, Ryley and Jones; it complements it very well. It is
interesting, well written and insightful. It genuinely adds to, and
informs, current sustainable transport debates. Phil Mackinstosh and Glen
Norcliffe’s chapter is again a more historical piece, looking at the
gendered construction of space and society with a focus on cycling in the
late nineteenth century. In my mind it fell into the same category as some
earlier chapters; interesting and well written but adding little to
current debates on sustainable transport.

Finally in chapter 9, Ben Fincham looks at the subject of cycle messengers
and how they are represented, by themselves and by outsiders. It is
interesting and written by someone who clearly knows about the subject
from both an academic perspective and also an insider’s viewpoint. The
last paragraph suggests some possible similarities to other cycling
sub-cultures, even hinting at commuter cyclists. Some further expansion of
this would have been interesting and led onto more of a sustainable
transport policy debate, although I accept it is outside the area of
Fincham’s work.

In the words of the editors “rather than seek to impose order on them…we
have consciously decided to throw them together rather haphazardly” (p.
9). Clearly they felt this to be a positive. I am less convinced. While I
enjoyed reading many of the chapters I am unsure who the book is really
aimed at. The book is not really a broad enough introduction to the
subject of cycling and society that it could be targeted at lay readers or
first year undergraduate students. It is not comprehensive and some of the
chapters are too specific and research-focused for that type of audience.
Thus it doesn’t quite deliver on its promise to address some contemporary
social problems with cycling as a possible sustainable transport solution,
and some of the chapters make no attempt to do this. In the end, it is a
“rather haphazard” collection of papers with a “common focus on cycling”
(p. 9).



> Tim - any chance you can cut and paste into an email for those of us
> without access to the online journal?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
>
> Tim Jones wrote:
>> Hi All
>>
>> Just to let you know that there is an online review [In Press, Corrected
>> Proof] of Horton, Rosen, Cox (Eds.) (2007) 'Cycling and Society'.
>> Aldershot: Ashgate. by Simon Kingham [Associate Professor of Geography,
>> Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New
>> Zealand] in the Journal of Transport Geography.
>>
>> See you all at UWE. Have a good summer.
>>
>> Tim Jones
>>
>> Researcher
>> Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development
>> & Department of Planning
>> School of the Built Environment
>> Oxford Brookes University
>> Gipsy Lane Campus
>> Oxford  OX3 0BP
>> Tel +44 (0)1865 483436
>> Email [log in to unmask]
>>
>


Researcher
Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development
& Department of Planning
School of the Built Environment
Oxford Brookes University
Gipsy Lane Campus
Oxford  OX3 0BP
Tel +44 (0)1865 483436
Email [log in to unmask]