SOCIAL SCIENCE
“It’s become easy
for motorists
to think of the
streets as their
space alone, that
cyclists don’t
have a right to
be there.”
PHOTO
Dr Jennifer Bonham
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ON YOUR BIKE,
ADELAIDE
It could be argued that Adelaideans are easily influenced
by all things wheels: the roar of V8 engines during the
Clipsal 500 car race is echoed by rev-heads’ burn-outs
in suburban streets; the rush of the peloton as it gusts
by during the Tour Down Under stirs locals to squeeze
into lycra and venture forth in their droves. For a couple
of weeks at least.
And while it’s the car culture that has emerged victorious in
Adelaide – as in so many other western cities over recent
decades – it doesn’t have to be that way, according to
the University of Adelaide’s Dr Jennifer Bonham.
A senior lecturer in Geography, Environment &
Population, Dr Bonham is one of Australia’s leading
researchers looking at issues of cycling and human
mobility in urban areas. It’s her hope that Adelaide can
become a great cycling city, helping to address a range
of social problems along the way.
“Cities around the world are grappling with issues
of traffic congestion and urban sprawl,” she says. “In
most Australian cities there’s the question of: ‘Can we
continue to expand into the urban outskirts, eating up
agricultural land?’
“Once governments implement policies aimed at
achieving higher urban densities, moving towards more
compact cities, then we must accommodate more
people on existing road infrastructure and, following
from this, we need to diversify our travel options.”
Dr Bonham says in higher-density cities, cycling
becomes a comfortable option for travelling distances
of around 7.5km. “That’s what the Dutch refer to as a
‘short journey’,” she says.
The Netherlands is Dr Bonham’s shining example of a
country that’s got its cycling policies and infrastructure
right. In the 1970s, the Dutch started planning to
become more heavily reliant on cycling. Now about one
third of the population travels regularly by bike, and in
cities such as Amsterdam more than 60% of journeys
are made by bicycle.
“The Netherlands rejected what was going on elsewhere
in the world, including Australia. We’d developed a
culture in which car driving had become seen as the
only viable mode of transport,” Dr Bonham says.
“In our society, cycling has been gradually marginalised
out of mainstream transport. In the 1950s and ‘60s
there were still a lot of people riding their bikes for
everyday journeys but that was never included in any of
the transport studies of the time.
“Over the years it’s become easy for motorists to think
of the streets as their space alone, that cyclists don’t
have a right to be there,” she says.
6
ADELAIDEAN
While the Dutch have led in this field, the Danish city of
Copenhagen has around 50% of its population regularly
cycling, with Strasbourg in France at around 30%. How
does that compare with Adelaide?
“For the daily journey to work, less than 2% of people in
Adelaide are cycling,” Dr Bonham says. “In some inner
suburbs, of Unley and Norwood, you’ve still only got
about 5-6% of people cycling to and from work. So
while it seems like cycling is becoming more popular in
Adelaide, we’ve still got a long way to go.
“That’s 5-6% of people cycling when there hasn’t
been a lot of effort put into it. So if we were to take a
concerted approach to the issue – such as improving
infrastructure, improving regulations, and promoting
cycling – things would change.”
Dr Bonham says Australian cities should be able to
reach at least 15% of cycling participation. The City of
Yarra in inner Melbourne is close to hitting that mark.
“They’ve been working for more than a decade to
‘invert the hierarchy’ – rather than prioritising motor
vehicles on the street, they’ve prioritised movement
of pedestrians, cycling and public transport. These
innovations are proving to be a success,” she says.
“In Adelaide, it’s not unrealistic to expect that within
20 years, 25-30% of inner suburban journeys could
be made by bicycle. Adelaide could be an ideal
cycling city, especially if we have good road design
and good regulations.”
Dr Bonham is co-editor with Marilyn Johnson of a new
book, Cycling Futures, from University of Adelaide Press.
The book captures the current state of cycling research
from Australia and New Zealand, with contributions
from engineering, architecture, social sciences, the
humanities, health, economics, and many other fields.
Dr Bonham says she hopes the book “will give the
broader community an idea of how serious this form of
mobility is, and the knowledge that it’s here to stay”.
She’s also quick to point out that that there are
many women who have a passion for cycling
conducting research into this field. “Cycling in Australia
is often considered a very masculine pursuit. In some
sections of the community it’s still seen as ‘blokes in
lycra on weekends’.”
And while the “lycra set” are often derided, what does
Dr Bonham think of them?
She laughs. “Many people may not know this, but the
lycra set are good for the local economy – just ask
any café or bakery! And I think: at least they’re out
there on bikes.”