Bicycles,Globlzation,Sustainab - GRS 195 Z1 - Course Syllabus

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT Global Studies Program Luis A. Vivanco, Ph.D. Office: 512 Williams Hall Office Phone: 656-1184 [email protected]

Summer 2011 511 Williams Hall Time: MWF 1-4:30pm

GRS 195: Bicycles, Globalization, and Sustainability Course Description Bicycles are fun, useful…and good to think with. This course is organized around the proposition that the bicycle—through its history of technological development and its recent rise around the world in the politics of social and environmental change, especially in urban areas—offers a productive lens to think about the complex intersections between human mobility, globalization, and sustainability. It begins with this observation: In recent years the bicycle has been enjoying a renaissance as a form of transportation throughout the world. Urban-based cycling advocacy movements claim the key role of the bicycle in reducing the social, health, and environmental problems caused by automobile pollution, congestion, and infrastructure. Environmental groups and neighborhood activists have also begun shifting their attention toward the realm of transportation policy and planning, realizing the bicycle’s key role in promoting non-polluting autonomous transportation, health, and quality of life. At the same time, “global cities” like New York, Paris, and Mexico City have become increasingly sensitive about quality of life concerns as they compete with other global cities for service workers, investors, and tourists, all of whom are recognized to value interesting and liveable urban spaces, which often implies spaces not dominated by polluting and noisy automobiles. Further, they confront populist backlashes around issues like persistent traffic jams, pollution, and the fragmenting effects of roads and freeways in urban neighborhoods. As a result, bicycle-friendly infrastructure and bike share programs have become key tools of urban redevelopment. Interestingly politicians and activists adopt a “global” perspective on these issues, looking to other parts of the world for inspiration and models as they reimagine and implement transportation alternatives in their own places. To the surprise of many, Bogotá, Colombia has emerged as one such model. The “bike movement” (as it is known in the U.S.) has gained a number of powerful political allies interested in rethinking transportation. Not surprisingly these efforts have run up against powerful obstacles. Certainly, they challenge the dominance of the automobile and the industries that uphold it. More importantly, they challenge a whole structure of industrial-era mobility and the cultural meanings and political, social, and economic dynamics—not to mention non-renewable resources—that have privileged motorized mobility. There is nothing “natural” about these structures, dynamics, and meanings—they are the product of decisions and historical processes that exist on local, national, regional, and global scales—yet they are so pervasive and powerful that alternatives to them are still viewed as oppositional, even subversive. These points raise a number of philosophical, cultural, and political questions around which this course is organized:

1

• • • •

What productive intellectual frameworks exist for understanding the intersections between human mobility, globalization, and sustainability? How did the bicycle as we know it come to be, and how did its historical development and extension relate to ongoing social, political, and economic changes around the world? Why and how have people around the world appropriated the bicycle for their mobility, and what social, cultural, and political-economic factors shape those processes? Under what social and political conditions have bicycle advocacy movements emerged in recent years, and what are their primary goals, claims, and strategies?

These questions lie at the heart of the problem-centered approach this course takes. The problemcentered approach frames learning as an active process of asking questions about real world problems and weaving disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary insights to understand them. This pedagogy emphasizes the importance of active learning, asking relevant questions, critical thinking, familiarity with theoretical concepts, and the impossibility of simple answers to the complex issues it raises. The following required texts are available for purchase at the University Store: Hurst, Robert. (2009) The Cyclist’s Manifesto: The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four. Falcon Guides. Mapes, Jeff. (2009) Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities. Oregon State Press. Rosen, Paul. (2002) Framing Production: Technology, Culture, and Change in the British Bicycle Industry. MIT Press. ***** Course Format and Requirements Since this course meets three times a week over four weeks, the pace will be quick, though the intensity will be punctuated regularly by bike fieldtrips, guest lectures, and films. This course is largely participatory, and therefore carries with it certain opportunities and obligations. Class sessions will be organized primarily around interactive activities, discussion of the readings, and the broader themes raised by course materials. Therefore, it is essential that each of you comes to class prepared, which means having done the assigned readings before every class session and considered the issues you would like to contribute to discussion. Needless to say, attendance is mandatory at all course activities, and the only excused absences are for family or health emergencies (with proof). You will be graded on the following: ASSIGNMENT Attendance and participation Transnational Biography of a Bike Reading Presentations and Summaries LAB Team Research Project

% OF GRADE 25 25 25 25

Transnational Biography of a Bicycle Your bicycle is an artifact of globalization, the tangible product of geographically-dispersed transnational capitalist relations. It is also an object that you (and perhaps previous owners) have

2

imprinted on through customization and particular histories of personal use. The goal of this project is to develop, as best as you can, a biography of your bicycle, and consider the intersections between these dynamics—the transnational and the individual—that contribute to its particular biography. This project has two components: 1) you should take three key elements/components of your bicycle and describe in as much detail as possible where the raw materials come from and how they are extracted/grown; who manufactures them into products; how they are distributed; who typically consumes them; and what happens to them after they are consumed; and 2) try to reconstruct the personal/individual use history of your bicycle. The final paper should be 8-10 pages, and will be due on Wed. June 8. In addition to describing these two distinct aspects of the bicycle’s biography, your papers should also reflect on bigger questions, such as in what ways do the transnational and the individual intersect in shaping your bicycle’s biography?; What was easy about constructing this biography, and what was difficult? Why were some things easy and others difficult? Did any surprising insights emerge for you in this process? Reading Presentations and Written Summaries Since this course is on an intense timeline, I have limited the amount of reading required for each class session. In order to compensate for this situation, and still expose you to a broad array of perspectives, arguments, and history, you will have two opportunities during the course to read an extra article and present on it to the rest of the class. The goal of the presentations is to provide a quick though detailed sense of an article so that other students can understand its relevance to the issues we are studying. Each presentation should be no less than 5 minutes but no more than 7 minutes. In your presentation, you should address the following: What is/are the article’s central argument(s)? • What is the evidence that supports the argument? • What are the article’s conclusions? • What are the weaknesses and strengths of these arguments, evidence, and conclusions? • What do you think about the arguments, evidence, and conclusions? • How does (or how could) the author respond to these weaknesses, and to your own criticisms? The same day of your presentation, you should turn in a 5-page narrative summarizing this article and raising any issues you think are important for your understanding of bicycles, globalization and/or sustainability. If you are unsure how to write this summary, you can use the questions above as a guide. Team Projects: League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community and Bicycle Friendly University Programs The final assignment of this course is to participate in the research required for Burlington to renew its League of American Bicyclists certification as a Bicycle Friendly Community, and to help UVM prepare its own application as a Bicycle Friendly University. The work will be done in small teams, and may involve searching for archival and/or demographic data, as well as interviews with relevant people who have the information. The materials you come up with will be due on the last day of class, June 17, and I would like each team to present on its findings in a 15 minute presentation of some kind in which all members of the team participate in the presentation. You should also turn in a brief memo describing your actual contribution to the team project. Course Policies There are no excuses for the two following problems: 1) late papers due to computer crashes, and 2) poor spelling and grammar. Regarding the former, claiming a “computer crash” is the essentially the same as telling me that your dog ate your homework. This is not a valid excuse if

3

you are backing up your materials on hard drives or the UVM mainframe. If indeed this has happened, I expect you to provide a note from a computer specialist explaining the problem; otherwise your late paper will be evaluated in terms of my late paper policy. Regarding the latter problem, use your spellcheck option and proofread – I will mark you down for poor spelling and grammar. My policy on late papers and other work is that I do not accept them, although I will make an exception if you are willing to receive a lower grade. Written work is due in class. Anything not turned in during class is late, and for every 24 hour period your paper is late, you drop a full grade from the grade I feel your paper would receive if it were not late. For example, if your ‘A’ paper is not turned in at class, you will receive a ‘B’ if it is turned in within the next 24 hours. The next day, your grade drops to a ‘C.’ The day after that, it is a ‘D.’ If you turn in a paper late and expect to receive a non-reduced grade, you must provide evidence of an emergency. ***** Schedule of Readings The readings here should be done before class on the date under which they are listed. Readings are in the books or available through our couse Blackboard site. All readings intended for presentations are also available on the course Blackboard site. Although you are not expected to read any of the those listed as “Reading Presentations” that are not assigned to you, there is nothing that should stop you from doing so if you see a title or issue that interests you.

Problem #1: What productive intellectual frameworks exist for understanding the intersections between human mobility, globalization, and sustainability?

Mon. 5/23: Taking Stock of a Global “Bicycle Renaissance” Film: Contested Streets No reading

Wed. 5/25: Mobility and Globalization In-class: Bike safety session with David Jacobowitz, League of American Bicyclists trainer, 1-3pm Required Reading: 1. Mapes, Pedaling Revolution, Introduction, Chs. 1-2 2. Urry, John. (2007) “The Mobilities Paradigm.” In Mobilities. Polity, pp. 44-60. 3. Byrne, David. (2009) “Epilogue: The Future of Getting Around.” Bicycle Diaries. Viking Books, pp. 275-92. Reading Presentations: 1. Schafer, Andreas and David Victor (2000) “The Future Mobility of the World Population” Transportation Research Part A 34 (2000): 171-205; 2. Horton, Dave, Peter Cox, and Paul Rosen. (2007) “Introduction: Cycling and Society.” In Horton, et. al. Cycling and Society. Ashgate Publishers, pp. 1-23. Fri. 5/27: Bicycles and/as Visions of Sustainability Required Reading: 1. Hurst, Cyclist’s Manifesto, Chs. 1, 7-8 2. Horton, Dave. (2006) “Environmentalism and the Bicycle.” Environmental Politics 15(1):4158. Reading Presentations:

4

1. Bae, Chang-Hee Christine (2004) “Transportation and the Environment.” In Hanson and Guiliano, eds. The Geography of Urban Transportation. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 356-81. 2. Illich, Ivan (1977) “Energy and Equity” In Toward a History of Needs. Pantheon Books, pp. 110-43; 3. Litman, Todd. (2003) “Reinventing Transportation: Exploring the Paradigm Shift Needed to Reconcile Transportation and Sustainability Objectives.” Victoria Transport Policy Institute; 4. Freudendahl-Pedersen, Malene. (2009) “Postscript: Ambivalences, Sustainability, Utopias.” In Mobility in Daily Life: Between Freedom and Unfreedom. Ashgate Publishing, pp. 117-141. 5. Deka, Devajyoti (2004) “Social and Environmental Justice Issues in Urban Transportation.” In Hanson and Guiliano, eds. The Geography of Urban Transportation. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 332-55. *****

Problem #2: How did the bicycle as we know it come to be, and how did its historical development and extension relate to ongoing social, political, and economic changes around the world?

Mon. 5/30: Your Bicycle as an Artifact of Globalization Guest: Ben Eastman, UVM Anthro Dept, 3-4:30pm Required Reading: 1. Rosen, Framing Production, Chs. 1-3 Reading Presentations: 1. Hansen, Karen Tranberg. (1995) “Transnational Biographies and Local Meanings: Used Clothing Practices in Lusaka.” Journal of Southern African Studies 21(1): 131-45 2. Miller, Daniel. (2010) “Why Clothing is not Superficial.” In Stuff. Malden, MA: Polity Press, pp. 12-41.

Wed. 6/1: When, How, and Why Did the Bicycle as We Know it Emerge? Fieldtrip: Old Spokes Home, 3-4:30pm Required Reading: 1. Rosen, Framing Production, Chs. 4-5 2. Hurst, Cyclist’s Manifesto, Chs. 2-5 Reading Presentations: 1. Cox, Peter and Frederick Van De Walle (2007) “Bicycles Don’t Evolve: Velomobiles and the Modelling of Transport.” In Horton, et. al. Cycling and Society. Ashgate Publishers, pp. 113-31. Fri. 6/3: The Bicycle’s Uneven Histories of Globalization Film and/or guest: TBA Required Reading: 1. Rosen, Chs. 6-7, epilogue Reading Presentations: 1. Nwabughuogu, Anthony (1984) “The Role of Bicycle Transport in the Economic Development of Eastern Nigeria,” J. of Transport History 5 (March 1984); 2. Moghaddass, Amir (2003) “The Bicycle's Long Way to China. The Appropriation of Cycling as a Foreign Cultural Technique 1860-1940.” Cycle History 13: Proceedings from the 13th International Cycling History Conference; 3. Mackintosh, Phillip Gordon and Glen Norcliffe (2007) “Men, Women, and the Bicycle: Gender and Social Geography of Cycling in the Late Nineteenth-Century.” In Horton, et. al. Cycling and Society. Ashgate Publishers, pp. 153-77; 4. Pivato, Stephano (1990) “The Bicycle as a Political Symbol: Italy, 1885-1955." Int'l J. of History of Sport 7(2) 172-187.

5

*****

Problem #3: Why and how have people around the world appropriated the bicycle for their mobility, and what social, cultural, and political-economic factors shape those processes?

Mon. 6/6: Who’s Riding, and Why? In-class: BBC Bicycle Diaries (Paris, New Dehli, Uganda) Fieldtrip: Visit to Bike Recycle Vermont, 3:30-4:30pm Required Reading: 1. Mapes, Pedaling Revolution, Chs. 3-6 2. Koeppel, Dan (2005) “Invisible Riders.” Bicycling Magazine Dec. 2006, pp. 46-55.

Reading Presentations: 1. Smart, Michael. (2010) “US Immigrants and Bicycling: Two-wheeled in Autopia.” Transport Policy 17(2010):153-9; Spinney, Justin (2007) “Cycling the City: Non-Place and the Sensory Construction of Meaning in Mobile Practice.” In Horton, et. al. Cycling and Society. Ashgate Publishers, pp. 2545; 3. Buehler, Ralph and John Pucher (2010) “Cycling to Sustainability in Amsterdam.” Sustain 21. Fall/Winter 2010, pp. 36-40; 4. Scarpaci, Joseph. “Cycling in Havana: Green by Default.” http://culturechange.org/bicycling.htm; 5. Reitveld and Daniel, “Determinants of Bicycle Use: Do Municipal Policies Matter?” Transportation Research Part A 38: 531-50. 6. Pucher, Buehler, and Seinen (2011) “Bicycling Renaissance in North America? An update and re-appraisal of cycling trends and policies.” Transportation Research Part A 45 (2011): 451-75. Wed. 6/8: Cycling through Urban Space Due in class: Transnational biography of your bike Fieldtrip: Relationships between urban space and cycling in Burlington Required reading: 1. Patton, Jason (2005) “Multiple Worlds on Oakland’s Streets: Social Practice and the Built Environment.” Visual Anthropology Review 20(2): 36-56 2. Geller, Roger (n.d.) “Four Types of Cyclists.” Bicycle Coordinator Portland Office of Transportation. 3. Bike Snob NYC (2010) “Velo-taxonomy.” Bike Snob. Chronicle Books, pp. 57-86. No reading presentations Fri. 6/10: Bike “Cultures”(?) Films: Excerpts from MASH, Pedal, etc. Required Reading: 1. Vannini, Phillip. (2009) “Cultures of Alternative Mobilities.” In Vannini, ed. Cultures of Alternative Mobilities: Routes Less Traveled. Ashgate, pp. 1-12 2. Culley, Travis Hugh. (2001) “Freedom in the American City.” The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power. Random House, pp. 28-48. Reading Presentation: 1. Wehr, Kevin (2009) “Introduction: Hermes on Two Wheels” and “Why Does Hermes Fly?” In Hermes on Two Wheels: The Sociology of Bicycle Messengers. University Press of America, pp. 1-30. 2. Furness, Zach (2010) “DIY Bike Culture.” In One Less Car: Bicycling the Politics of Automobility. Temple U. Press, pp. 140-69. *****

6

Problem #4: Under what social and political conditions have bicycle advocacy movements emerged in recent years, and what are their primary goals, claims, and strategies?

Mon. 6/13: Bike Politics Guest: Jason Van Driesche, Local Motion, 1-2:30 Required Reading: 1. Mapes, Pedaling Revolution, Chs. 7-9. 2. Mapes, Jeff (2010) “Trailblazers: How Bicycle Advocates Defined North American Cycling Culture.” Momentum March/April 2010, pp. 20-24.

Reading Presentations: 1. LeBlanc, Robin (1999) “Supposing Truth is a Woman—What Then?” Bicycle Citizens: The Political World of the Japanese Housewife. Columbia University Press, pp. 1-27; 2. Furness, Zach (2010) “Velorutionaries and the Right to the (Bikeable) City.” In One Less Car: Bicycling the Politics of Automobility. Temple U. Press, pp. 47-77. 3. Excerpts from Wray, J. Harry (2008) Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life, Paradigm Publishers. Wed. 6/15: Cycling Advocacy, Social Movements, and Policy Fieldtrip: Burlington City Hall—Transportation Visioning Exercise with Legacy Project, 1pm Required Reading: 1. Hurst, Cyclist’s Manifesto, Ch. 6 2. Batterbury, Simon. (2003) “Environmental Activism and Social Networks: Campaigning for Bicycles and Alternative Transport in West London.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2003 590: 150-69. 3. Montezuma, Ricardo (2005) “The Transformation of Bogotá, Colombia, 1995-2000: Investing in Citizenship and Urban Mobility.” Global Urban Development 1(1) May 2005: 1-10. Reading Presentations: 1. Rhodes, Brandon (2004) “Cycles of Contention” Unpublished paper; 2. Pucher, John, Jennifer Dill, and Susan Handy. (2010) “Infrastructure, Programs, and Policies to Increase Bicycling: An International Review.” Preventive Medicine 50: S106-S125.; 3. Pucher, John and Ralph Buehler (2009) “Cycling for a Few or for Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice in Cycling Policy” World Transport Policy & Practice Volume 15. Number 1. Fri. 6/17: Conclusion: Bicycles and the Future No reading In-class: Presentation of team projects, personal memo due

7