Repair/rewriting
Global Critiques + Local Celebrations
Overall, this project has laid out the ways in which biking has existed for centuries, and can continue to persist into the future as a form of resistance and survival through the Anthropocene. I propose that biking can offer hopeful solutions to the Grand Narratives of the Anthropocene (namely the view from above, global humanity, and car-centricism) rather than continuing to perpetuate them.
I believe in a future with increased bikeability and bike use for all people across different ages, financial statuses, etc. I base this belief not in blind optimism, but by looking at the real, lived experiences of cyclists in Montreal throughout history and currently, and using this evidence to promote realistic, critically hopeful future solutions.
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Rather than just looking at the sheer number of kilometers of bike lanes in Montreal, the study that Claire Loewen reviews compares the relative amount of travel with the amount of space allocated to that type of travel.
For example, cars occupy 98% of road space, but only 95% of trips. Meanwhile, micromobility (bikes, scooters, etc) only occupies 2% of the space despite making up 5% of trips.
In certain boroughs like the Plateau, 22% of trips use micromobility, but the infrastructure allows less than 5% of street space.
What if the micromobility infrastructure was doubled? Cyclists would win big, and 90% of road space would still be dedicated to cars. A big win for cyclists without heavily impeding on drivers' road space.
This type of Equal Infrastructure Allocation would help city planners defend pro-bike lane expansion projects that automobile drivers typically oppose. (Loewen)
Imagine a future where the availability of bike lanes in Montreal matches the demand/ the amount of trips done by bikes...
This leads us into Critical Hope where we can imagine a future Montreal that has more bike lanes without this being a blind dream. This article proves that the demand for bike lanes exceeds their availability, and there can be a future where more bike lanes are allowed without impeding on road space for cars. In this way, we can imagine a forward-looking plan towards more biking (based on concrete evidence and based on current reality), without blindly wishing for a world of only biking (avoiding eco-fascist fantasies).
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