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ABSTRACT
There have been recent calls in mobilities literature for greater engagement with how mobility regimes are shaped and governed at different scales. In relation to cycling-related mobilities scholarship, there are very few accounts situating cycling within broader bio-political and political–economic processes. This paper seeks to address this absence, situating contemporary formations of cycling culture within processes of capital accumulation and economisation. The research is based upon a series of interviews with industry stakeholders, participant observations at cycle events and analysis of policy documents and news media in Taiwan from 2015–2017. We demonstrate that in the last 10–15 years there has been a drive to create cycling subjects in the Taiwanese cycle industry, mass events and through public bike sharing with the loosely strategised goal of projecting an image of a cycling culture that it is hoped will be advantageous to the domestic bicycle industry. We demonstrate how this emergent process of fixing works through economisation of social cycling practices, themselves reliant on processes of division, classification and subjectification. We also show how the cycling subjects and cultures thus formed constitute qualculative framings that facilitate ongoing commercial re-evaluation of Taiwanese Brand manufacturers by other actors within the industry.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose insightful comments have helped to sharpen significantly the theoretical underpinnings, focus and narrative of this article. We would like to acknowledge the support of Taiwan's Ministry of Science (MOST 106-2410-H-305-060-MY2) for providing the funding for the research reported in this paper. As ever, any errors or misinterpretations our own.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The bicycle industry currently employees around 33,000 people with fixed assets of around US$4.9 billion and makes up 1.2% of Taiwan’s industrial sector (Department of Statistics (2015).
2. What constitutes a cycling culture remains a matter of debate (Aldred and Jungnickel Citation2014) yet most would agree that it requires cycling to be embedded in all aspects of daily mobility (recreational and reproductive); have widespread support from society and government; be something done by a significant proportion of the population; and be accomplished with safety and ease (generally seen as requiring traffic calming measures and cycle-specific facilities).
3. Early statistics from 2005 suggested some success with A-Team members seeing growth of 14% in exports; average unit prices increasing to $346; and sales volumes up by an average of 36% (Brookfield, Liu, and MacDuffie Citation2008, 16).
4. Of most relevance here is the A Team’s marketing operations embodied in the ‘Taiwan Industry Image Enhancement Project (IEP)’. This aimed ‘to enhance the innovative image of Taiwanese industry, creating the country of origin effect and assisting Taiwanese branded companies in raising brand awareness and consumer preference, as well as increasing sales revenue and expanding the sales base in the targeted markets, including in Taiwan, the EU, USA, Japan, Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Russia, Brazil, UAE, Egypt, Myanmar, Turkey, and Mexico.’ (http://www.taiwanexcellence.com.tw/ind/about-us.aspx: n.p, accessed 25/04/17). Supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and implemented by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) the IEP provides value-added promotion through a variety of integrated marketing and communication activities (conferences, exhibitions, digital marketing etc) (ibid).
5. As Harvey (Citation2001) states, the term ‘fix’ has multiple meanings: it can refer to the notion that something is placed and secured in a particular location and cannot be moved or changed (24). It can also refer to the idea that there is a problem in normal functioning that needs to be ‘fixed’ to return to its ‘normal’ state (ibid). Following from this is a third related meaning where a chronic problem (such as drug addiction) is ameliorated through ‘getting a fix’ (ibid). This last metaphorical meaning is important primarily because as Harvey attests, it suggests that any ‘fix’ will be temporary as the ‘craving soon returns’ (ibid). All three meanings have in common the idea that a problem can be identified and solved (at least in the short term).
6. Between 2015 and 2017 we conducted 20 in-depth interviews lasting between 30 min and 2 h with a broad section of stakeholders including Merida, Giant Bike Foundation, Taipei City government, National Development Council, Ministry of Transport, Local Transportation Authorities, Taiwan Cycling Federation, and Community Leaders. These institutions were selected because of their role in the production of cycling culture through different activities, events and schemes. We also gathered data (ethnographic and secondary) on a range of events such as the Tour de Taiwan cycle race, King of the Mountains Challenge, Chunghua Classic 100, Taiwan Bike Festival, Taipei International Bike Show, Velo-City 2016 Cycle Conference, Bike Taiwan Cycle Route, and Taipei’s ‘U Bike’ PBSS. Some of these such as the Velo-City Conference (Citation2016) are one-off events whilst others such as U Bike are ‘permanent’. Equally some events such as the International Bike Show take place only in Taipei City whilst others such as the Bike Taiwan Cycle Route are evident in many areas of the nation.
7. Whilst Foucault did not focus on mobility in great detail in his writings on biopolitics or indeed anatamo-politics, it evidently represents an area of social life that is amenable to the kinds of problematising and dispersed management he discusses. For example, Foucault theorized the ways in which the subject could be mobile as a potential investment on the part of the individual (Foucault Citation2010, 230). Accordingly, when he suggests that a key locus of disciplinary power is ‘control over daily rhythm’ (Foucault Citation1995, 167) it is implicit that mobility with its attendant spatial, temporal and rhythmical orderings (Edensor Citation2010) can be conceived of as a pre-eminent sphere of anatomo-politics and bio-politics where certain mobile hybrids are legitimised, marginalised, or excluded.
8. A pump track is a short undulating circuit associated with BMX and mountain biking that is used by riders to improve their technical skills.
9. The 2017 edition, for example, gave entrants the chance to ride alongside Pro-Team professionals Valerio Agnoli and C.K. Feng.
10. Much of the inspiration for this network has been from the successful Shimanami Kaido cycle route in Japan. As an official from the Ministry of Transport confirmed, numerous government departments (including education, tourism and transport) alongside businesses like Giant have been involved in defining the route around the island (Mr Su, MOT, 23 May 2017).
11. This route was inspired by the Japanese Shimanami Kaido route (part administered by Giant who provide bike rentals) which runs 60 km across a series of islands in the Seto sea connecting the main island of Honshu with Shikoku.
12. We acknowledge that the implementation of PBSS addresses multiple ‘matters of concern’, chief amongst these are environmental quality; urban congestion and global city image. However, it is important in achieving ‘Cycling Paradise’, because of its role in helping to construct a diffuse ‘landscape of mobility’ which it is hoped will form a quality in any qualculation regarding the embeddedness of the cycle industry.
13. The potential of the You Bike system to be rolled out in other cities has taken a major setback since 2016 with the phenomenal success of ‘PBSS 2.0’ dockless systems from Chinese companies such as Mobike and Ofo (see for example Spinney and Lin Citation2018).
14. Information from: http://taipei.youbike.com.tw/cht/f32.php.