Critical Mass, Urban Space and Vélomobility
Critical Mass is an international, monthly event where bicyclists briefly take over city streets to celebrate bicycling, demonstrate their collective strength, and send a clear message to the public: 'We are not blocking traffic, we are traffic!' In this essay, the author explores how Critical Mass functions as both a performative critique of motorized space and a critical response to automobility. Rather than offering an empirical account of Critical Mass, the politics of Critical Mass are discussed through the lens of the Situationist International, or situationists--a group of avant-garde artists and architects that developed a unique program of spatial politics in the 1950s. Using the situationists as a reference point, it is explained how Critical Mass impacts the progress of formal bicycle advocacy, the term 'vélomobility' is conceptualized within a paradigm of utopian urbanism.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/17450101
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Supplemental Notes:
- Abstract reprinted with permission from Taylor and Francis
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Authors:
- Furness, Zack
- Publication Date: 2007-7
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: References;
- Pagination: pp 299-319
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Serial:
- Mobilities
- Volume: 2
- Issue Number: 2
- Publisher: Routledge
- ISSN: 1745-0101
- EISSN: 1745-011X
- Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmob20
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Automobile travel; Bicycling; Cyclists; Mobility; Mode choice; Travel modes; Urban areas; Urban transportation policy
- Uncontrolled Terms: Velomobility
- Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01055302
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 9 2007 6:13PM