The Unstable Lives of Bicycles

The 'Unbecoming' of Design Objects

Bibliographic Data

ID4139765
AuthorsJonas Larsen (0000-0002-8208-8119, Roskilde University, corresponding author), Mathilde Dissing Christensen (0000-0001-6414-5979, Roskilde University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume47
Issue4
Pages922-938
Publication date2015-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a140282p
OpenAlexW2276060510
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited44

A predictable byproduct of any 'successful' mobility system is the breakdown and destruction of once desired, fashionable, shiny, and useful objects, yet mobilities scholars have largely ignored such issues. In this paper we document and analyze ethnographically neglected and 'half-dead' bikes in Copenhagen as we encounter them in racks, on the pavement, and when the municipality attempts to clear them out or recycle them. We are theoretically informed by ideas that see consumer objects as having a social and material life beyond their initial production and sale. They are constantly in a process, (un)becoming, and marked by that life. Where cycling is normally conceived of as a sustainable and environmentally friendly practice, this study shows that many bikes are ill treated and quickly become waste, and 'matter out place

Aesthetics · Architectural engineering · Art · Business · Economics · Microeconomics · Sociology · Computer Science · Crafts, Textile, and Design · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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