New book: Cycling and Society

I've just been tipped off by a friend that there is a new book that has just come out which takes a sociological approach to cycling. I'm very excited about its publication as I generally think that cycling is a very under-researched topic. Most reasearch is either historical or technical, however I think that alot of the problems faced in trying to get cycling into the mainstream are really issues that need to be solved by conceptually reframing what we mean by 'cycling', 'transport' and 'mobility'. Hopefully this book will provide some timely insights. Unfortunately, this book is a little pricy but the publishes have been kind enough to put the first chapter on the web. Hopefully, my library will be able to get a copy. I'm particulary interested in the bolded chapter titles.

Cycling and Society
Dave Horton, Paul Rosen and Peter Cox
Series:Transport and Society
$99.95/£55.00 Add to Basket
How can the socialsciences help us to understand the past, present and potential futures of cycling? This timely international and interdisciplinary collection addresses this question, discussing shifts in cycling practices and attitudes, and opening up important critical spaces for thinking about the prospects for cycling.
The book brings together, for the first time, analyses of cycling from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including history, sociology, geography, planning, engineering and technology. The book redresses the past neglect of cycling as a topic for sustained analysis by treating it as a varied and complex practice which mattersgreatly to contemporary social, cultural and political theory and action. Cycling and Society demonstrates the incredible diversity of contemporary cycling, both within and across cultures. With cycling increasingly promoted as a solution to numerous social problems across a wide range of policy areas in car-dominated societies, this book helps to open up a new field of cycling studies.


Contents
Introduction:
cycling and society, Dave Horton, Peter Cox and Paul Rosen; Cycling the city:non-place and the sensory construction of meaning in a mobile practice, JustinSpinney; Capitalising on curiosity: women's professional cycle racing in thelate 19th century, Clare Simpson; Barriers to cycling: an exploration ofquantitative analyses, John Parkin, Tim Ryley and Tim Jones; Hell is othercyclists: rethinking transport and identity, David Skinner and Paul Rosen; TheFlaneur on wheels?, Nicholas Oddy; Bicycles don't evolve: velomobiles and themodelling of transport technologies, Peter Cox with Frederick Van De Walle; Fear of cycling, Dave Horton; Men, women and the bicycle: gender and social geographyof cycling in the late 19th century, PhilipGordon Mackintosh and GlennNorcliffe; Bicycle messengers: image, identity andcommunity, Ben Fincham;
Index.

Ride to Work Day @ Macquarie University

Here are some photos from National Ride to Work Day @ Macquaire Uni. We ended up with around 70 cyclists attending the breakfast coming from all over Sydney. The vibe was generally up beat and many new riders were amazed at how easy and fun it is to ride to work.






And here are some stories on me being a media tart... (Macquarie Globe + Northern District Times)

NYC Bike Sharing

Thanks to Jono for fowarding this to me.

Motoring Masochism

According to one article in today's SMH:

IT IS no longer just a question of unreliability or poor public transport links - Sydney commuters are driving to work simply because they can.

The annual crash figures from the insurer AAMI reveal that 63 per cent of Sydneysiders would prefer to sit in a traffic jam than catch a bus or train to work or to university and TAFE. And only 5 per cent walked or rode a bicycle, even if they lived close to their workplace.

Commuters happier chained to the wheel