par Pelgrims, Claire
Référence T2M Annual Conference "Governmental Visions for Transport and Mobility - Strategic Transport Infrastructures and the State" (18: 22, 23, 29, 30 Oct. 2020: digital)
Publication Non publié, 2020-10-29
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : There is an annual growth rate of cyclists of 12% in Brussels since 2010. The current health situation invites even more people to pedal as public transport services are limited and not advised. As the bicycle now becomes less a vehicle of opposition to automobility and more an ordinary materiality of sustainable mobility, better understanding of the ‘infrastructuring’ processes is even more crucial. As I and others have demonstrated, using the concept of social imaginaries (that embody the city materiality) allows to reflect on –and thematise– material sensitive objects and environment (vehicles, infrastructures) as they establish aesthetic and affective relationship with humans that cast light on complex urban processes. The social imaginary of slow mobility destabilises and restructures for decades cities through ‘infrastructuring’ processes that demonstrate a growing attention to urban ambiances (temporality, rhythms, materialities, sensitive aspects of space and practices). If the ambition to redevelop a cycling network in Brussels dates back to the early 1990s, the current pandemia has considerably accelerated its concretisation. Separate cycle lanes are painted on main traffic axis and ‘residential areas’ limited to 20 km/h flourish in the main commercial axis (rue de la Loi...). The paper is a discussion of the impact of that early implementation on the aesthetic of the planned infrastructure.

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