This year for CRB, I aim to host a workshop that explores how the bicycle can serve as a boundary object to facilitate a transition to a degrowth future for our societies. My own work has explored this by examining how bicycle kitchens teach people to develop an in-depth relationship with their bikes, providing them with a deeper understanding of how bicycles work. I would be interested to see how people from the infrastructure or cycling experience side of things view this critical topic. In previous CRBs, we have attempted to conduct a stand-alone discussion bout a repair session. which has been helpful for individual researchers to further explore cycling repair. Since we are in Amsterdam this year, I want to utilize my own position as a core team member of the UVA Bike Kitchen project to bring attendees into the living lab of the UVA Bike Kitchen.
The workshop will take conference attendees to observe a shift at the UVA Bike Kitchen on Monday, September 11th. During this participatory shift, participants will be asked to conduct a qualitative assessment of the organization that I have created. This will provide workshop attendees with space to reflect on their thoughts about the potential impact of the kitchen bike project. I will close the session with 10-minute reflection sessions, during which conference attendees will build a Miro board project that examines what they learned about creating a sustainable bicycle system in the bike kitchen. =
I will circulate papers by CRB bike session veterans Daniel Valentini, Jonne Silonsaari, Margot Abord Chantillon, and me to people who attend the workshop. I will ask them to read the papers prior to the session so they can gain an understanding of the knowledge that has been developed, in part, at CRB about the bike kitchen's role in the biking system. I hope this step will enable us, as an organization, i.e., CRB, to demonstrate that our conference has been at the forefront of promoting the bike kitchen concept to the broader cycling world. I hope that attendees of the workshop will combine the practical knowledge they gain from observing the bike kitchen and the academic knowledge to help innovate a sustainable bike system in their home context.