TY - JOUR
T1 - Reinventing the bicycle
T2 - how calculative practices shape urban environmental governance
AU - Jensen, Jens Stissing
AU - Cashmore, Matthew
AU - Elle, Morten
PY - 2017/5/4
Y1 - 2017/5/4
N2 - The concept of sustainability transitions has become increasingly prominent in academic and policy discourses during recent decades, but the importance of the link between knowledge-producing epistemic practices and urban governance has been underappreciated in this discourse. Based on a case study of cycling in Copenhagen between 1900 and 2015, and drawing upon a governmentality-inspired analytical framework, this research demonstrates that transformative governance may be initiated by epistemic practices that render urban systems visible in other ways. Urban cycling has been reconstructed over time in Copenhagen as a traffic safety ‘problem’, a component of the experiential and liveable city, and a health-producing (and hence economically valuable) regional transport mode. The research findings emphasise that epistemic practices can provide a powerful stimulus for creating changes in urban governance. The results also provide support for initiatives to broaden the terms of academic debate on sustainability transitions.
AB - The concept of sustainability transitions has become increasingly prominent in academic and policy discourses during recent decades, but the importance of the link between knowledge-producing epistemic practices and urban governance has been underappreciated in this discourse. Based on a case study of cycling in Copenhagen between 1900 and 2015, and drawing upon a governmentality-inspired analytical framework, this research demonstrates that transformative governance may be initiated by epistemic practices that render urban systems visible in other ways. Urban cycling has been reconstructed over time in Copenhagen as a traffic safety ‘problem’, a component of the experiential and liveable city, and a health-producing (and hence economically valuable) regional transport mode. The research findings emphasise that epistemic practices can provide a powerful stimulus for creating changes in urban governance. The results also provide support for initiatives to broaden the terms of academic debate on sustainability transitions.
KW - cycling
KW - governance
KW - governmentality
KW - Sustainability transitions
KW - urban systems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017125138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09644016.2017.1311089
DO - 10.1080/09644016.2017.1311089
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85017125138
SN - 0964-4016
VL - 26
SP - 459
EP - 479
JO - Environmental Politics
JF - Environmental Politics
IS - 3
ER -