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.

• Record URL:
  http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/17450100701381607
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/17450101
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Taylor and Francis
• Authors:
  • Furness, Zack
• Publication Date: 2007-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 299-319
• 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