ARTICLE FROM THE BOOK:
Cyclists & Cycling Around the World – Creating Liveable
andBikeable
CitiesCyclists& Cycling
Aroundthe World
Edited by Juan Carlos Dextre, Mike Hughes & Lotte Bech
Published by Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2013
ISBN: 978-612-4146-55-8

Cyclists’ Grass Roots Democracy - The
importance of strategic participation
By Lake Sagaris, Santiago de Chile, ChileP

ro-cycling movements learn from experiences all over the world, but as conditions
change, so do the lessons. Too often, we look only at infrastructure, rather than thepeople who make change happen.

Figure 1. Although the list of cycling-inclusive measures is relatively the same everywhere, priorities vary
according to each city culture. Thus, in Santiago, with little green space for children, high walking levels andrecyclers with specific needs when it comes to facilities, cycling-inclusivity can (and should) look different.

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If we focus too much on the “what”, we get trapped in some pretty sterile debates: overcompulsory or optional helmet use, cycleways versus road warrior approaches, “wars”
against drivers or cyclists, etc. What really matters though, is how we move our issues
and priorities onto public agendas, and how we keep them there long enough to see
substantial change.
In Europe, shifts toward more sustainable transport modes and cycle-inclusivity took
20-30 years. Keeping an issue in the policy eye for that long is a major challenge. And
democracy is crucial, particularly in countries where we’re just starting to democratise
our own urban planning cultures. What is most crucial about democracy though, issomething that many take for granted: civil society, that is, organized citizens, the space
where you and me become “we”.
Indeed, the “Who” is a central issue for innovation in urban policy. And building (cycling)inclusive cities requires substantial innovation. In fact, it requires a paradigm change, awayfrom automobility (see Beckman and others below), to new, sustainable living systems
based on social justice, happiness and environmental benefits for all living species.

The goal: (cycling) inclusive living
Building inclusive cities requires cycling (and walking, and wheelchairing) in every single
road facility and public space developed as part of city policy (figure 2). This means
roads are redistributed to benefit more people. Cars, ultimately, get crowded out. Whenit comes to sustainable transport for cities, they’re space-hogging, energy-guzzlingand inefficient.
Figure 2. (Cycling) inclusive cities are about redistributing roads for multiple uses and in favourof the most efficient, socially just forms of work and transport. Photo: Sagaris Delhi (India).

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the WorldFor better cities, we need to think more about segregating cars, to keep public transit,
walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users safe, and give people more room to garden, chat,play ball. Don’t confuse long-term goals with the steps we must follow to reach them,though. That can lead to sterile fundamentalism and break down the dialogues necessary
to build commitment to change.
Think about long-term goals. Hammer them out and build consensuses with all possible
partners. Then figure out what transitional steps are necessary to achieve them. Be
careful not to use transitional steps that will block progress further down the road. Taking
space away from pedestrians, by building cycle facilities on sidewalks, for example, canlead to a dead end, because ultimately that doesn’t change how roads are distributed
among needs and users. Using parking lanes for raised (Seville) or at-grade (Vancouver,elsewhere) cycle paths can be very effective however, so don’t be dogmatic. Everymeasure plays out differently in different contexts.
Painting lines on roads, as citizens do in Guadalajara (see Appendix) or city planners do in
Brussels (see Appendix) and Toronto (see Appendix) may not be ideal, particularly where
speeds and volumes of motorised traffic are rather high. But they can open the way tomore cycle users, and therefore more pressure for improvements. Putting them besideparked cars, though, leaving cyclists vulnerable to dooring (Toronto), causes accidents
and no-win arguments about blame.
Building (cycling) inclusive cities requires planning to make sure improvements occurin specific periods of time, meet standards and have special budgets to “catch up” andmeet targets for boosting walking and cycling. It also requires including the appropriate
measures and facilities in all new residential, commercial and other development projects.

Strategies to mobilize ecologies of actors
Cycling inclusivity requires more than just individual tactics: cycle rides, bike to work
months, fashionable blogs, lobbying, etc. These need to be combined into long-term
strategies that make the most of local opportunities, partnerships, crises and potential.
Figure 3. Santiago’s cycling roundtable (2008).
Led by the regional government and Ciclistas
Unidos de Chile, with support from the Dutch
NGO, Interface for Cycling Expertise, theroundtable brought together government
staff, cyclists and civil society groups,
environmental and neighbourhood leaders,consultants, academics and others interested
in moving cycling ahead. See Appendix.

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Figura 4: Building the social imaginary: A cycling-related spectrum
Cyclist-centred

Community-based

Defining view

Cycling as an end

Cycling as a means

Participants

Cyclists, young, athletic, mostly male

Diverse in age, education, family, incomes

Identity

Urban tribe, tough, “road warrior”,
machoCollective, community view, gender aware

Social capital

Bonding (strong shared interests,
fellowship)

Bridging diverse: networks, alliances, diverse
relationships

Narrative strategy

Must survive the hostile city, “real”
cyclists versus others who are not,competitive, aggressive (speeding on
sidewalks, etc.)

Inclusive: cycling and walking is healthy,safe, empowering, etc.; multi-modal, ride
respectfully; interconnection of all road users

Needs

Tough bike, helmet-wearing (or not —according to local culture), specialized
cycling gear: cyclist uses what’s
available, esp. sporting equipment

Women-friendly, task-friendly, clothingfriendly bikes and accessories sought.
Cycling world should adapt to diverse users,
particularly women and children

Organizations

Usually ad hoc, de facto rather thanelected leadershipCollective styles of leadership, ad hoc groups
and legally constituted organizations, withelected leaders, transparency, accountability

Funding

Anathema, except for small amounts
raised through selling cycling-relatedparaphernalia to supporters and fans

Membership fees and external funding
to finance increasingly sophisticatedprogrammes; Tendency toward
professionalization

This involves mobilising “ecologies of actors” all the way along the cycling spectrum
interested politicians, committed technical people (sometimes called “inside activists”, Olssonand Hysing), relevant private sector players (retailers, educators, designers, consultants),
neighbourhood associations, women’s and many other groups. There’s a whole spectrum of
approaches, attitudes and interests that is necessary to push cycling ahead.
This requires people, organizations, and a wide variety of groups: a dense and diverse
ecology of actors. Different styles, profiles, attitudes and strategies can help. So does debate.

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

Figure 5. Police on bikes supervise student demonstration in Toronto,
February 2012. Unlike other actors in the system, citizens can protest,change rules, open eyes and minds to new ways of doing things.
Photo: Sagaris, Toronto (Canada).

What’s important is that everyone find their niche and that interactions are based on
mutual respect.
Someone has to do the mobilizing and normally this is the job of civil society organizations.
That’s because most other players are thinking short-term. Planners think in terms ofcurrent rules and regulations, politicians are looking for votes, and private players arebusy ensuring they can pay the bills and have something left over.
Citizens, however, are different. Citizens dream. Citizens can think about what is desirable
and then move the whole system toward making those dreams a reality, protesting,arguing, critiquing, cajoling, proposing and cooperating (figure 5).

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In Bellavista
In the Santiago arts neighbourhood of Bellavista, we applied cycling-inclusivity to amajor project to recover its main street, Pío Nono, which had turned into a major centre
for crime and filth, after years of neglect, reflecting its location between two municipal
governments, Providencia and Recoleta. Working with support from local (María Elena
Ducci) and international architects (Ricardo Austrich and David Dixon, from Boston),
Living City and the neighbourhood associations organized charrettes, workshops, formal
exchanges and other activities to build consensus for recovering the street, widening its
sidewalks, reducing parking and introducing a short but crucial cycling lane, between
the main access to the city and the San Cristobal Hill Metropolitan park.
It took eight long years and endless hours of work, but in 2008 (figures 6), neighbours,
the minister of housing, representatives of the two mayors, restaurants and other people
gathered to dance and celebrate the opening of the new Pío Nono. This also catalysed
the development of the Patio Bellavista (see Appendix), a cycling-friendly centre forrestaurants, crafts people and other small businesses, which has become a leader inthe local economy and an innovative example to real estate developers interested in
improving the city.

Figure 6. Neighbourhood associationpresident, Gerardo Lanzaroti celebrates
the inauguration of the new Pio Nono
street, with a rousing cueca, Chile’s
national dance, accompanied by aneighbour.

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

The one-two rules of the policy cycle
Thinking in terms of ecologies of actors, rather than friends and enemies, good guys andbad guys, is important too. It means understanding that people in different niches within
the ecology have different roles. As Chileans say, no point asking the elm tree for pears.
When no one’s thinking about building a cycle network, someone has to start. Sometimes
these are citizens’ groups, like local cycling, walking and neighbourhood groups all over
the world. Sometimes these are visionary politicians, as has occurred in many cities. The
first one-two rule is that both -- visionary citizens/visionary politicians -- tend to alternate
and we need both (figure 7a) over the long term, to pedal forward.

The one-two dynamic:
maintain the movement
Civil society
pressure

Political
leadership

Experts (technical staff, academics, NGOs,
operators, others)

Civil society
supportThe one-two rule:create pros, to offset contras

Political
leadership

CivilsocietysupportCredibility
requires
Knowledge
SkillsConnections
Independence

Political
leadership

Figure 7a. The one-two rules illustrates the way
civil society pressure alternates with politicalleadership, to keep key issues on the policy
agenda.

Figure 7b . The one - two rules Ilustrates theimportance of both types of actors: politicalleaders need civil society support when they
apply controversial measures.
Source: Author´s elaboration on PhD research(2008 - 2012)

But when pioneering politicians or technical staff dare to act, they need external
support. That support isn’t credible if it only comes from their own membership, party or
pet groups. Thus, they need support from credible, independent citizen organizations.
The second one-two rule (figure 7b) is that we’ve got to build both political will andcivil society organizations.

How: The nature of policy change, active citizenship and civil society
Funding and sustainable transport measures depend on public opinion. But most thinksolely in terms of individual citizens. It’s true that each individual makes a difference.

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Figure 8. Representatives of the two Bellavista neighbourhood associations, Living City, the mayors ofProvidencia and Recoleta, and the minister of housing on stage, celebrating the inauguration of the new
Pio Nono streets, with wider sidewalks, no on-street parking and a cycle way (24 August 2008). Photograph:
Mario López Vieyra.

But organizations are the backbone of any social movement, because they accumulateknowledge, experience, networks of contacts and credibility.
Through active participation in planning, pressuring, protesting and proposing,organizations can generate the kinds of fruitful deliberation that make change possible.
Just posturing and debating isn’t enough. We need real heads-together-over-the-table
conversation, that goes beyond dogma. Building this kind of change takes every kind ofknowledge available: academic, technical and experiential.
That’s because change doesn’t happen just because we hold a demonstration, present
a well-documented brief, or have a good meeting with a powerful politician. These aretactics. We need strategies that role them all together in a logical, effective way.
It sounds easy, but of course it’s not. Change is multi-dimensional. Figure 9a shows thedifferent spaces where change must take place for a new policy like cycling inclusivity
to really take hold. Usually it’s easiest to start with informal practices: how does yourcity plan transport, public space, walking and cycling facilities? Is this located in one
department, or spread out over half a dozen national ministries and 52 municipalities (ashappens in Santiago)?

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

Where change happens: Leverage points
Where change happens
Level of action

Formal relations

Informal practices

Constitutional level(ground rules)

Legal systems

Value Orientation

Policy area level (relations
between governmental bodies)

Formal regulations

Informal codes

Operation level(daily activities)

Procedures

Roles

De Jong et al The theory and Practice of Institutional Transformation

Figure 9a. Where change happens. Based on De Jong et al. 1997. Normally it is easiest to start by changing
informal practices, particularly roles, and then move into formal procedures and regulations. Constitutional,
legal and other areas usually take the most effort to change, although there are some exceptions.

Figure 9b shows how both social movements and citizens’ organizations are needed togenerate new ways of building city transport systems and permanent change.

int
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ruc

ov
em

re
at
c

su

lm
lp

res

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ca
liti

d)

ReshapingvaluesHabitual

Institutionalization

Citiziens’ institutions

se

on

sp

orl
lw

ia
ffc

l re

ica

oo
int

(po

(based on previous figure)

hn
tec

ion

Paradigm
change,transformation

Iterations - Interactions

l-

So

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tic

rat
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(in

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ts

li
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Changing
processes

Figure 9b. Interactions between
citizen movements, citizen
institutions, and political andtechnical policy and planningbodies. Source: author’s elaboration,
based on PhD research.

(knowledge & persistence)

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Figure 10 – Particpatory Mapping
workshop 2008

Mapping your ecology of actors
A strategy for cycling-inclusivity has to locate all these actors and figure out how toapproach them. The Dutch created a very useful matrix for this purpose (figure 11a).
As we did in Santiago, you can identify where people are today (figure 11b, and also
where you would like them to be (figure 11c). In Santiago we discovered that once we’didentified key actors and goals, positions shifted very quickly (within a year) to thepositioning we sought.

influence relevant issues

More

Less
Negative

Involve

Cooperate

Opponents

Partners

Outsiders

Fans

InformMobilize
Attitude to issue at hand

Positive

Figure 11a. A matrix for mapping your ecology of actors, developed by the Dutch province, Brabant,and used by Tom Godefrooij in cycle-planning training sessions (Santiago).

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the WorldMore

influence relevant issues

Involve

Automovilistas
unidos de Chile, SERVIU,
Transantiago, Metro

CUCH, Bicicultura, CicloRecrovia,
MAcletas, GORE, (Regional govt),
Municipalities of Recoleta,
Providencia, Lareina, Ñuñoa, Maipú,
Cochalí; Companies: Oxford, Mite

Carabineros, Ministries, of Health,
Education, Transport, Environment;
Regional transport planning, office;Latina consultants, Ministry of Public
Works, Users, victims of accidents,
National transport safety commission,
Parliament Commissions, othermunicipalities, consumer organizations,environmental groups, some cycle
retailers, Chile Deportes

Casa de la Paz, Acción Ciudadana
por el Medio Ambiente, OLCA,
Individual architects, transport
engineers, Municipalities of
Huechuraba, Macul, Pudahuel, La
Plntana, La florida, Cerro, Navia, El
Monte, Padre Hurtado, El Monte, El
Bosque, Buin, La Granja, San Ramón,
Lo Espejo, Peñalolen, Lo Prado, PAC,
San Joaquín; other cycle retailers

Partners

Cooperate

Fans

Mobilize

Less
Negative

Santiago 2007

Positive

Figure 11b. Shows the initial mapping for Santiago.
MorePartners

Transantiago, Metro, CUCH,
GORE, (Regional govt),
Cooperate
Municipalities of Recoleta,
Providencia, Lareina, Ñuñoa, Maipú, Cochalí;Companies: Oxford, Mite , Neighbourhood , market
and other associations of independenci, Vega,
Bellavista, Pedro de Valdivia, Norte, Casa de la Paz,
Acción Ciudadana por el Medio Ambiente, OLCA,
Individual architects, transport engineers, Ministries,
of Health, Education, Transport, Environment;
Regional transport planning, office; Latina
consultants, Ministry of Public Works, Users, victims ofaccidents, National transport safety commission,
Parliament Commissions, Chile Deportes

influence relevant issues

Involve

Automovilistas
unidos de chile, SERVIU

Less
Negative

Carabineros, Other municipalities,
consumer organizations, some cycle
retailers, environmental and civilsociety groups

Fans

Mobilize
Santiago 2007

Positive

Figure 11c. Shows our desired map, largely achieved in 2008 with the Cycling Master Plan Roundtable.

The key to a good strategy is to understand that we need to play many chords at thesame time. Often citizen groups approach only friendly politicians. Or they only talkwith a few technical staff or planners (figure 12a). But what’s really important is to bringthem all together (figure 12b) and talk to them in a coordinated way. This improves theinformation available, opens up decision-making to public scrutiny, and helps generate
win-win rather than win-lose dynamics.

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Variegated collection of organizations that constitute the state (Evans 2002)(some)
Privateinterests
Political
actorsTechnical
staff(closed)Elite
Excluded(Majority)

Activecitizens

Activecitizens

Figure 12a. Typical approaches to power have citizens focusing on political actors
or technical staff separately, leaving room for misunderstandings, false information,
manipulation and other barriers.

Variegated collection of organizations that constitute the state (Evans 2002)
Environment(some)
Privateinterests

Technical
staff

Political
actorsActivecitizens

Academic
Knowledge

Figure 12b.Generating working groups, roundtables and other participatory instances makes action bypolitical leaders, technical staff and citizens more visible, which reinforces all-way relationships there by
improving transparency and effectiveness.

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

It’s very hard for a single organization to play this role: hence the importance of diverse
civil society actors. In Santiago, after years of bitter conflict, six pro-cycling groups formed
Ciclistas Unidos de Chile. Thus, one group, Bicicultura, does mostly cycling promotion
through its annual festival, and considerable lobbying. Another, Ciclorecreovia, organises
open (car-free) streets in different neighbourhoods. Macletas, with support from Living
City, organizes a women’s cycling school. Living City has become expert on technicalstandards and processes for cycle-inclusion.
To make these networks function well, sometimes we exercise leadership, and sometimes
we follow. Together, good leadership and good followship build strong, resilientorganizations. Horizontal participatory processes, where citizens run sessions, organize
events and otherwise share power (and responsibility) with government are essential:
they build capacity, credibility, but also the independent citizen voices necessary forinnovation and winning public opinion.

What and Who
A cycling master plan is essential and it can’t just be a declaration of good intentions:Portland, Madrid and other cities offer interesting examples. At the very least, it requires
a proposed network, a participatory process, a permanent advisory board with a majorityof citizens chosen by citizens’ groups themselves, a permanent staff unit and ongoingtraining, including site visits and participation in key conferences, such as the European
Cycling Federation’s Velo-City. The plan also has to include funding and specific deadlines
for completing new facilities. It should also contemplate cycle training, through formal
and non-formal education systems (public health instances are ideal), and funding fordiverse, citizen-led initiatives. For an excellent overview of the steps and issues involved,
there is an excellent handbook developed by international experts, with support from theGerman development agency (GIZ) and the Dutch NGO Interface for Cycling expertise(Godefrooij, Pardo et al. 2009).

Final reflections
After you’ve been doing this for a while, you notice that the list of measures for cyclinginclusivity is pretty standard (Godefrooij et al. 2009). But every city adapts and applies thelist differently. Building cycle-friendly streets is good everywhere, it’s true. But how thesame measures play out locally is always different.
This is because each place has its own history, culture and people, and they all cometogether differently within the urban planning system. But if you’re not careful, a lot of
people get left out, often the ones most relevant to change. Just copying what someone
did somewhere else is never enough.

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Redistributing road space by giving parking to wastepickers in Delhi, for example, cantransform lives and build equality and social justice. Making cycle lanes wide enoughfor recyclers in Santiago or Lima is every bit as important. We can’t just copy the “best”
standards for somewhere else. Everything has to be adapted to the specific local culture.
Mumford said every great city is a collective work of art. That’s exactly what building(cycling) inclusive cities is all about.

Lake Sagaris
lsagaris@yahoo.com

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