Os grupos de ciclistas e suas contribuições para a mobilidade urbana: os casos de Rio Grande, Pelotas e de Bagé, RS.

Abstract

The bicycle is inserted not only in the daily lives of workers, but also in lives of people with different occupations and social classes, people who voluntarily chose this equipment. The emergence of groups of cyclists for leisure purposes or to obtain cycling infrastructure, based on a claiming activism, questions the potential of these organized collectives in the construction of bicycle-friendly city, so the research aims to investigate the role of activism and leisure organizations in the production of contemporary cities, in order to match associations with existing cycling infrastructure. The research presents a Multiple Case Study in the cities of Rio Grande, Pelotas and Bagé, in southern Rio Grande do Sul, where both the practice and the history of cyclist groups were investigated, as well as the relationship they establish with the municipal administrations, in order to elucidate the social participation from these voluntary organizations. The conclusion indicate that the contributions of organized cyclist groups are mostly social in nature, as they involve ties of friendship, initiation of new cyclist, gain in health and awakening to an urban awareness, as these can, sometimes, earn spaces with cycle path and cycle lanes. In addition, caution may be needed in the direct inclusion of individual experiences in the dialogues with city planners, since the selection of cyclist groups routes has different motivations than those required for effective cycling mobility, especially because there are groups that cycle through bicycle infrastructure and groups that have no interest in this type of facility.