The Potential for Cycling in Starter Cycling Cities

摘要

There has been an increasing recognition of the potential of cycling for a more sustainable urban mobility. Regardless, many Starter Cycling cities are still struggling with finding the right approach to bring about change and even with finding the right political and social commitment to a real change.In this paper we explore the operationalization of the concept of potential for cycling aiming to provide detailed knowledge to local authorities on structural conditions of cities to take up cycling. With this in mind we present an assessment method able to categorize and provide spatial visualization of the potential for cycling of starter cycling cities. Using this method, we explore the potential for cycling of two municipalities of the metropolitan area of Porto, which are interesting examples of starter cycling cities in a particular national context which can in it-self be categorized as starter cycling.Results illustrate differences in potential between these two municipalities with Porto having a more positive scenario due to being more densely populated, which enabled more efficient cycling policies (in spite of their limited nature), namely with its cycling infrastructure covering a higher percentage of population regardless of the limited extension. The less positive potential of Matosinhos results from its geographical asymmetries, such as, its sparsely populated northern region combined with its cycling infrastructure being leisure oriented (and mostly the cost).