Is Dutch velomobility automobility reinvented? A critical systemic perspective.
The case of cycling in the Netherlands is frequently brought up as a case where it has been "done right" and where the dominant automobility system has been challenged. However, is this really the case? A systemic examination of the component parts of extant velomobility literature coupled with a systematic examination of what it was that the much-vaunted (mobility) campaigns of the 1970s actually wanted may indicate that Dutch velomobility is simply automobility reinvented. As such, we may have to reconsider the desirability of a simple copy-and-paste approach of the Dutch model to other mobility contexts.
Lindsay is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, working towards a thesis unpacking the systemic interplay between elements of automobility and velomobility in the Dutch context, and challenging many long-held assumptions - including their own! In their free time, Lindsay builds strange bicycles, drives a fifteen-year-old electric van, and collects plush trains from around the world.