Hellem de Freitas Miranda
Post-doctoral researcher at ESALQ/USP. I have a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from the Federal University of Paraná - UFPR and a master's and doctoral degree in Transportation Engineering from EESC/USP. I have acted as director of the Urban Mobility Department of the Ribeirão Preto/SP City Hall and worked in consulting companies in the areas of urban, environmental, and transportation planning. In addition, I have developed technical studies in the area of urban mobility for municipal and national non-governmental organizations.
Intervention
Cycling promotion is often associated with material factors, such as the provision of infrastructure, the built environment, and environmental conditions. These elements are considered key determinants of the success of cycling initiatives, while symbolic factors, such as personal motivations, psychosocial perceptions, socioeconomic characteristics, and policy development, are sometimes viewed as secondary. Empirical evidence challenges this assumption, as seen in São Paulo, which, despite significantly expanding its bicycle network (guided by models from the Global North), has achieved limited success in cycling promotion. This raises the following question: Is bicycle infrastructure sufficient to boost cycling in cities of the Global South?
This study aims to compare these two explanatory paradigms: the materialist, which attributes the primary role to infrastructure, and the cultural-systemic, which recognizes political and symbolic factors as structural determinants. Using a comparative qualitative approach, three Latin American cities (São Paulo, Bogotá, and Buenos Aires) were analyzed based on the Operational Model of Bicycle Culture. The study examined the extent to which infrastructure represented a priority factor in these contexts and how the other determinants operated to lead (or not) to a pro-bicycle cultural transition.
Results indicated that, although infrastructure is a necessary condition for the practical viability of cycling, it is insufficient to trigger processes of cultural transition. Long-term political leadership, activist pressure, and a positive social image emerge as factors that precede and determine the effectiveness of physical interventions. Cross-party political agreements, the incorporation of bicycles into the social imagination, and the consolidation of an organized civil society proved to be decisive for the sustainability of these interventions after their implementation. Furthermore, structural barriers common in the Latin American context, such as urban and gender-based violence, highlighted the need for a critical perspective regarding the adoption of pre-packaged solutions that may not address the uniqueness of each location.