Bicycle-sharing systems in an alternative/diverse economy perspective: a sympathetic critique

ABSTRACT

This contribution puts bicycle-sharing systems (BSSs) as a rather recent, environmentally friendly form of urban mobility in the context of broader societal changes. More specifically, we discuss to what extent BSS and their various modes of organisation can be regarded as an “alternative” consumption practice, explicitly designed to deliver more social just outcomes, taking the diverse economy framework of Gibson-Graham as a key tool of analysis. Our examination unfolds a range of limitations of BSSs for (strong) sustainable development, but also a number of obvious and less obvious prospects and opportunities.

KEYWORDS:

• Bicycle-sharing systems
• diverse economies
• sharing economy
• sustainable transport
• regional development

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge valued comments on earlier versions of this contribution from Rob Krueger, the editor of the special issue Christian Schulz, Simon Dudek, Noel Healy, the participants in a guest lecture at the University of Luxemburg in course of the Lecture Series in Geography and Spatial Planning in April 2016, and two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.