“To be lifted to the summit of the World Trade Centre is to be lifted out of the city´s grasp…” (De Certeau 1984:92)
Just like Michel de Certeau did in 1980 with his book ‘The practice of everyday life’, I will change the focus, from the general and abstract look from above to the practice of everyday cycling in Copenhagen on the bicycle-lane. The visual journey through Copenhagen is underlined partly by the cyclists’ description and contributions by relevant theorists.
In this case the interviewees reflect on their daily bike practices. After the visual journey, the condensed findings from the interviewees are presented and finally summed up altogether covering the spatial practice of the produced space of velo-mobility.
7.1 Riding the bicycle in Copenhagen
This chapter presents a short and visual introduction to the spatial practice of bicycling. The experience is inspired by De Certeaus experiences of ‘Walking in the city’ (De Certeau 1984), Justin Spinneys ‘Cycling in the city’ (Spinney 2007) and Phil Jones’ initial bicycle experiences from ‘Commuting on bike’ (2005). None of the theorists can be directly linked to the unique case of Copenhagen. However, they do provide a good point of departure to discuss Copenhageners’ bicycle practices, which revolve around the interviewees’ different experiences of riding the bike on a daily basis. The following presentation is guided by the essential sub-activities of cycling: mounting, riding and stopping, which occurs when cycling from Nørrebro to Christianshavn.
7.1.1 Mounting
The initial sub-activity when starting from Nørrebro Station is the mounting. I start off from the pavement and onto the bicycle-lane where I clearly enter another space. Entering the space is equivalent to entering the road as a motorist: it is necessary to be cautious due to the difference in your speed and the other cyclists/motorists. Even though there is less than 100 meters to a red light, the speed is relatively high due the fast acceleration and deceleration of the bike.
Phil Jones describes the conversion from pedestrian to cyclist as entering in between the urban transport binary. (Jones 2005:816). The one position is the motorists – both public and private, and the other is the pedestrians’. It is clear that Jones’ field-study is made in Birmingham, with very few cyclists compared to Copenhagen. In between the urban transport binary he places the bicycle. (Jones 2005:816). A degrading of the bicycle to a minority or ‘in betweener’ is a neglection of the high percentage of cyclists in Copenhagen and the volume of the physical space they appropriate. As a cyclist, I have the opportunity to shift mode of transport whenever I want. If cyclists dismount they transform into pedestrians and new paths can be taken to reach the destinations. A good example of this is the left-turn, which is very commonly used among the interviewees.
A: “…I mean sometimes I forget about it and cycle over the zebra crossings but then it is kind of slowly” (Anna Pp. 39)[1]
If the cyclist has to turn left in a junction and the traffic light is red, it is instead possible to dismount and use the faster pedestrians path toward the destination. This event stresses the thin line between being a cyclist and a pedestrian, which is practised in the video above. With a bicycle you are legally allowed to use two different means of transport and thus also use each designated space. The bicyclist should therefore not be described as something in between means of transportation, but rather an overlapping means of transportation.
7.1.2 Riding
When riding, the bike-lanes are organised, but not signed, like a highway; on the inner lane closest to the pavement cyclists are slowest. When cycling in the fast lane I am very aware of not blocking the road, which makes me look back when I change lane and when I consider staying on the fast track.
K: “Well, you can sometimes see two people riding next to each other. Blocking the bicycle-lane really irritates the other bicyclists.” (Kirstina Pp.6)[2]
This practice is not organised with signage, but is inherent in the cycling practices, which is learned by doing and thus a potential challenge when new or unaware bicyclists are not familiar to the code of conduct.
When passing a junction, the width of the lanes increases and thus possibilities for three or more lanes. Passing a junction therefore creates an opportunity to overtake a whole crowd as long as you manage to handle the bottleneck that occurs when the marked lane starts again on the other side of the junction.
Along the route, the cars on my left hand are most of the time separated by curb-stones, which mark a clear demarcation between the two different spaces of mobility. I do not feel concerned about the cars no matter if I ride on the elevated lane with a curb or not. I have a driver’s license myself and I am thus aware of the black spots motorists might have.
During the trips I am riding illegally a handful of times. Mostly, it is done by riding over zebra-crossings or turning right when the traffic lights are red, but every time I do so I slow down, so I am almost going the same speed as the pedestrian like the interviewee’s description above. This refers back to the small difference between pedestrians and cyclists, where the difference in walking with the bike or cycling at walking-speed is even smaller.
7.1.3 Stopping
During the journeys the traffic lights make the commuters queue up, all the different means of transportation has its own way. The motorists are put into straight lines, whereas the cyclists fit together as tightly as possible. When cycling there is unwritten but - very clear - rule about two lanes: one regular and one fast lane. However, when queuing up this unwritten rule becomes obsolete and cyclists tend to fit together as compactly as possible, both fast and slow as the interviewee describes below and shown on the video-sequence.
AS: “(…) That is the most annoying thing about riding the bicycle in Copenhagen.
J: Yes?
AS: ”The thing that people do not queue up and stay behind… and they make the judgement and say: ‘Okay this guy has just overtaken me three times before. Now I just pass him in the junction again because… because that is what I use to do’… aargh!
J: Yes?
AS: That is just such a stupid element of irritation” (Aske Pp. 5) [3]
The interviewee describes how people stop to analyse each other the moment they stop at the traffic lights. The interaction in the queues can be described with the feeling Simmel describes as the Blasé attitude. According to Simmel, this way of meeting people appeared with the public transport, where people are put together without other things in common than the route. (Jensen 2006:148).
People queue up with as little communication as possible. It is not to be compared with car congestions where the lack of proximity and the feeling of the car as being private space, thus decreases potential awkwardness. However, the blasé attitude disappears as soon as the streetlight turns green and the cyclists are forced to analyse their fellow cyclists in the queue to fit in the bicycle order, this will be discussed later in this chapter.
7.2 Perceptions of cycling
The actual practice of moving from A to B has been shown above to give practical examples of everyday events on the bicycle-lane. In the following paragraphs the focus will be on how the space of velo-mobility is perceived by the interviewees. What are the considerations behind the practice?
As stated in the methodology chapter space consists socially, so analysing interaction is key.
Among the people who interact and contribute actively in the space of velo-mobility, a spectrum can be set up. It ranges from the motorist who is inside her own private car, to the pedestrian in full control of all senses without any mediation of her practise. This is in line with John Urry´s statement: “The car is not simply a means of covering distances between A and B” (Urry 2006: 18). Due to the fact that the car driver is sitting inside the private metal cocoon when moving around in the public, Urry perceives the car as being quasi-private. The spatial consequences of the quasi-private nature of the car are what Augé claims to be non-places – highly programmed places such as infrastructure (Augé 2000:78). As Justin Spinney, I assume Augé specifically refers to auto-mobility when describing infrastructure as being a non-place where:
”(…)people do not meet, where they communicate only through signs and images, and where interactions are structured by rules not defined by the people in them” (Spinney 2007: 42)
This definition does not fit into the infrastructure of Copenhagen. Instead of perceiving infrastructure binarily it should be more elaborated, depending on the means of transport. Indeed bicycling is a communicative mode of transport, which affects the infrastructure of Copenhagen. In the following I will focus on this communication and the interviewees perception of their fellow road users.
7.2.1 Communication and proximity
It is very seldom seen that cyclists are communicating directly verbally. However, the nonverbal communication is key when navigating on the bike-lanes in heavy traffic. When cycling, the interviewees are constantly analysing their fellow cyclists with all senses.
C: “… I am very aware of my bicycle body-language because I think there is so much more going on in Copenhagen” (Christine Pp.12)[4]
In this way the communication is bodily and easy to read due to little mediation of the bicyclists’ intentions. When bicycling, you are a part of the infrastructure where people communicate through their senses. De Certeau captures this notion very well by introducing the spatial ‘language’ and the walking rhetoric (De Certeau 1984: 98, 100). He uses this in his analysis of pedestrians, but it can be useful when analysing cycling as well. While we read the spatial language of our fellow cyclists we also write (communicate) our own interpretations of the space into space. The interviewees describe alertness to their fellow cyclists’ expressions and signals. The cyclists know the spatial language of cycling, which makes them able to understand fellow cyclists’ writings.
J:”…How much do you analyse your fellow cyclists?
AS: I do that all the time…I judge them speed-wise, how fast are they and how fast I am. Does it make sense to overtake or should I stay in line? If I judge it is stupid to overtake because I know I will be overtaken again afterwards by the same person I stay behind. (Aske Pp.49)[5]
All interviewees are aware of how to keep up the flow on the bicycle lane, without clear signage or strict legislation. The bicyclists’ spatial writings appear clearly to the interviewees and the unwritten codes of conduct frame the bicycle practice very distinctively and are easy to understand. A good example is the invisible high-speed lane; here the spatial writings almost turn physical. The interviewee explains the high-speed lanes on a specific route and afterwards she states that these lines are only a personal imagination.
G:”(…) I mean most of Nørrebrogade, there is the inner and then the high-speed lane, and the wider the more lanes and the more space for different speed. It is like there are two different lanes with two different kinds of speed, which I think play a major role when the traffic is so dense…
J: Is it marked? I haven´t tried one of these high-speed lanes myself?
G: (…)most people are good at looking over the shoulder before changing lanes, and they change lane as soon as there is space for them. It works like a highway. You keep the pace in the inner lane and the outer is specifically for overtaking.
J: Ok, so it is marked as a high-speed lane?
G: No! It just works that way" (Grith Pp. 8)[6]
This might be the reason for cyclists being able to move rather quickly in close proximity as done on the video-recordings as well.
When watching the videos after riding the video-recorded route, it was remarkable to see how close I rode to pedestrians, cars and buses (See Appendix 1 Video recordings). A good example is a sequence on the first journey, where I found out that my planned route included a pedestrian street. This part looks rather hazardous in my opinion, but at the moment I did not feel insecure with the situation. The reason might be the fact that my visual scope and hearing is much better when I ride the bike than the video is capable of reproducing.
When watching the videos after riding the video-recorded route, it was remarkable to see how close I rode to pedestrians, cars and buses (See Appendix 1 Video recordings). A good example is a sequence on the first journey, where I found out that my planned route included a pedestrian street. This part looks rather hazardous in my opinion, but at the moment I did not feel insecure with the situation. The reason might be the fact that my visual scope and hearing is much better when I ride the bike than the video is capable of reproducing.
The video-recordings have certain similarities to the mediated experience when driving a car. The front window also separates the driver from the space of auto-mobility with a glass like a monitor. Phil Jones captures my experience by saying:
“This Playstation-perception of automotive simply does not apply to the cyclist" (Jones 2005: 821)
Viewers of the videos see my bodily sensed journey from the scope of a motorist, which show the limitations of perceiving and being perceived in the produced space of auto-mobility.
7.2.2 Cars and pedestrians
To able to understand how the interviewees perceived themselves as cyclists I made them compare the practice of riding the bike to the existing road-users.
The interviewees all agree on the reliability of the cars in the traffic. There might still be a safety issue, but they trust the motorists and their ability to follow the road traffic act.
B: “Then there is the fact that you have to have a driver’s license. It is much more controlled” (Bert Pp.28)[7]
The nature of the car requires clear rules and laws, due to the mediated interaction in the traffic, compared to non-motorized-transport. Motorists are not able to negotiate traffic situations on location, due to the speed and a mediated practice with only a few possibilities to communicate such as the horn and indicators. The cars reliability is high among the interviewees, especially in comparison to the pedestrians. The interviewees define pedestrians as unreliable and somehow absent minded when walking and require special attention.
G: “There is less traffic order the closer you are to the house wall”
(Grith Pp.18)[8]
As a cyclist in between cars and pedestrians it is easier to merge with the motorists due to their predictable behaviour and well-known set of rules. All the interviewees have driver’s licenses themselves and are able to think as a driver when riding the bikes and vice versa.
A: “I mean, when you sit in a car. You get really… I mean, it is really dangerous to ride a bike! It just underlined my… You know this ‘alertness’ of the traffic.”(Anna Pp. 39)[9]
The pedestrians do not need designated focus on mobility when getting from A to B and usually walk almost absentminded according to the interviewees. Even though the road traffic act also covers pedestrians, they still seem to rather unreliable to the cyclists. The pedestrians’ speed and bodily signals show clear intentions and pedestrian-collisions seldom have fatal consequences, which decrease the incentives to stick to the regulations (See coding 4: Safety Appendix 4).
7.2.3 Other cyclists and social organisation
According to the interviewees, the vast majority of cyclists in Copenhagen behave well. It is a flexible system where cyclists behave according to the situation.
G: “Some brave parents take their children cycling around Queen Louise’s bridge. The children are skilled, they ride nicely and firmly and closely to the curb in front of their parents, but at the same time you can see the passing cyclists provide extra space and slow down when overtaking. I mean there is an extra focus on the children.” (Grith Pp.19)[10]
Again, no mediation of the communication blurs the individual difference of the bicyclist. It is easy to show tolerance towards new cyclists, due to obvious expressions, which demonstrate that they are novices. There is no need for a L-sign on the bike to show you are a learner and in need of special attention.
The set of rules is in general learned through practicing cycling and not through legislation and none of the interviewees refer to the road traffic acts when reflecting on the organisation of cycling. Instead they refer to a common perception of how to cycle in Copenhagen. This becomes especially explicit when the interviewees entered the space of velo-mobility for the first time.
C: "It can actually be a bit hectic to bike in Copenhagen… There is something fascinating about all the… that there are so many bicycles in Copenhagen.”(Christine Pp.13)[11]
When the discourse of space mainly is constructed through social interaction and learning-by-doing, misinterpretations are more likely to occur in comparison to a set of written laws. This is due the fact that the social order will have to be both perceived and executed by individuals, so: what I believe is the right thing to do, is executed in my very own way, which might be different to yours.
G: “I thought I could fit in there… But apparently the woman behind me didn´t think so ’You even looked over your shoulder and you entered the lane anyway!’ In my opinion I thought there was plenty of space for me, but you should not start discussing something like that. It is clear that it is expected that you pull yourself together and do your best.” (Grith Pp. 20)[12]
An important part of the data includes the perception of right or wrong in the space of velo-mobility. In general the road traffic act is perceived more like guidelines than actual legislation with sanctions when disobeying. Every one of the interviewees spoke very freely and without shame about their almost daily practice of breaking the law when cycling.
K: "I don´t know why one does this as a cyclist… I mean…I guess it us just because you want to proceed as fast as possible. I don´t know, but it is like you are more in control on your bike because…
J: Yes?
K: It is also because you cannot hurt anyone in the same way. (Kirstina Pp.2)[13]
Like the before mentioned statistics from Copenhagen, the cycling practice of the interviewees is in general based on a cost benefit analysis for getting as fast from A to B as possible.
When driving a car the sanctions for driving are economical. If you break the legislation you have to pay, whereas the cyclists’ costs are measured by the risk of injuries either to themselves or somebody else. The interviewees are aware of what they are doing is illegal but it does not seem to bother any of them. None of them speak about fines for breaking the law; in fact they perceive the police as almost being indifferent to the cyclists. The most common sanction mentioned instead was social discipline, when fellow cyclists were ringing the bell or correcting other cyclists’ behaviour in another way. The interviewees therefore contribute to a general practice where the individual bicyclist is aware of her constant breaking of the laws among fellow cyclists; however, this is not necessarily socially considered as violating the code of conduct.
When the interviewees were confronted with their illegal practices many of them expressed a bad conscience towards their fellow cyclists. Even though they felt this way, none of the interviewees regretted their practice. (Appendix 4, coding 3: Social justice).
7.3 Summing up and reflecting – Spatial practice
- What is the social practice of the bicyclists in Copenhagen?
The practical and visual introduction showed fragments of a distinct social order, which later was stressed by the interviewees. Both when mounting, riding and stopping there are codes of conduct, which are upheld by nonverbal communication. The cyclists constantly analyse their fellow cyclists to fit into the stream of cyclists all riding at their own personal tempo. There seems to be a difference in the codes when riding and when stopping, somehow the highway organisation disappears as soon as the red light shows. According to the interviewees, and the video-recordings, the level of analysis drops. The cyclists try to get as close to the junction as possible without considering other cyclists speed.
Even though it was difficult to make the interviewees reflect in their spatial practice (See next chapter), they have a clear focus on their fellow cyclists appearance. Their fellow cyclists are easy to understand, with a clear and understandable spatial language. At some point so clearly that the interviewee imagined it as physical lines on the bicycle-lane! The clear communication can be related to cycling as a bodily experience where communication is done with the body instead of in comparison to the car.
To the left side of the bicycle-lane, the cars are considered reliable due to a strict set of rules, whereas the pedestrians to the right are more unreliable, without sensing the danger of bicycles. Fragments of this fearless approach can also be found among the interviewees, especially when it comes to the legislation. The interviewees interpret the road traffic act as guidelines, and the organisation on the bicycle-lanes are established by a social code of conduct and learning by practicing instead. In regard to this, the interviewees often commit illegalities without noticing it or referring to them as only a ‘little bit illegal’ (See next chapter).
[1]“ …altså nogen gange kommer jeg til at cykle..så er det bare lidt langsomt eller…”
[2] K: “Ja, det er også dem der cykler to og to ved siden af hinanden. Det er også sådan noget at folk kan blive sure over at det spærrer.”
J: ja
AS: Det er at folk ikke bare holder sig bagved og de kan se…og de laver den vurdering og siger: jamen, ham her har lige overhalet mig tre gange før. Nu kører jeg lige foran igen. Fordi det… Det plejer jeg jo lige at gøre… ååååhh”
[4] C: “jeg er meget mere bevidst om mit cykelkropssprog, fordi jeg synes der er meget mere fare på færde I KBH.”
[5] J:”…hvor meget overvejer du hvem du cykler ved siden af?
AS: Jamen det gør jeg hele tiden… Hvor jeg kan se… hvor jeg skyder dem sådan rent tempomæssigt, hvor ligger jeg, hvor ligger de henne i forhold til skal jeg blive bag ved her? Er det omsonst at overhale her fordi jeg ved at jeg vil blive overhalet lige om lidt af vedkommende. Så bliver jeg bag ved, hvis det er den vurdering.”
[6]G: “…Altså nu er der, det meste af Nørrbrogade, der er den inderste og så er der overhalingsbanen… Og jo bredere der er jo flere spor kan der ligesom være. Jo mere plads er der til forskellige hastigheder. Og det er lidt som om der er to hastigheder på det meste af Nørrebrogade. Det synes jeg er noget som betyder rigtig meget der hvor der er tæt.
J: …er det markeret? Jeg har ikke selv været på de her overhalingsbaner
G:…De fleste er gode til at kigge sig tilbage før de trækker ud, og trækker ind lige så snart der er plads. Så det fungerer meget som en motorvej: Man holder farten i det inderste spor eller… det er decideret overhalingsspor.
J: Ok, altså er det markeret som overhalingsspor eller?
G: Nej… Det fungere bare sådan.”
[7]“Det må man gerne… Ja og så er der jo også det der med at man har kørekort. Det er meget mere ordnet. Man kan jo også sige at samfundet er mere ordnet i bilismen end cyklisme.”
[9] A: “Altså når man sidder i en bil. Jeg blev virkelig sådan over…altså hold kæft mand det er farligt at cykle. Så det understøttede bare min…den der sådan alertness overfor trafikken”
[10] “der er også nogle modige forældre der kører med sine børn derinde ind over dronning Louises bro. Og børnene er dygtige, de kører pænt og ordentligt og ude i siden og foran deres mor og far, men man kan også se at alle de andre cyklister giver også ekstra plads og tager lidt af farten når de overhaler. Altså sådan ekstra hensyn til de børn der er der.”
[11] “jeg synes den er lidt mere aggressiv end i Århus. Jeg synes sku at folk kører lidt vildt. Altså der er mange der kører meget stærkt. Det kan godt være lidt hektisk at cykle i KBH synes jeg…Der er også noget meget fascinerende ved at alle, der er så mange der cykler i KBH.”
[12] ”Du kiggede oveni købet tilbage og så svingede du ud alligevel”. Jeg tænkte jo godt jeg kunne være der, men det skal man jo ikke snakke om. Så der er også helt klart en forventning om at det skal man altså her og nu må man altså lige tage sig sammen. Det føler jeg.
[13] “K: Jamen jeg ved ikke hvorfor man gør det som cyklist, det er måske… Jamen det er vel bare fordi man vil hurtigere frem også selv om… Jeg det ved jeg ikke det virker måske som om man har mere kontrolrolle på cyklen fordi man tænker…”
“J: Ja
K: Og så også fordi man kan ikke skade andre på samme måde…”
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