International ProgrammeInternational Programme

How can we further improve the 'bikeability' of São Paulo and increase the usage of bikes as alternative means for transport? How can we make the city more welcoming to cyclists and bikes? And how can we further employ the usage of urban data and social media to promote biking in São Paulo?

Round N Around is a collaborative research project between the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam (HVA citizen data lab), the University of São Paulo and Het Nieuwe Instituut. With the support of local biker communities, the project aims to explore the technologies developed for the measurement and analysis of data on the user experience of bike paths in the city of São Paulo. Cyclists, researchers and public managers contributed to an ecology and encourage the use of bike lanes in the city. The project consists of two workshops and a public event to collaboratively map the biking culture in Sao Paulo and draw up a road map to work towards better biking conditions for the future.

From Copenhagen to Los Angeles, and from Amsterdam to São Paulo, over the last few years, conditions for bikers in cities around the world have improved considerately. Meanwhile citizens around the world have increasingly taken up biking as a way of getting around town.

Many of these shifts can be credited to the biking communities themselves. With new tools such as social media and apps to assemble data about biking patterns, it has become easier to campaign for more bikeable cities, and inform citizens about the advantages of and opportunities for cycling. Meanwhile, also city councils around the world have embraced the promotion of biking culture as a public good, contributing to more liveable, social and sustainable cities.

São Paulo is no exception to this. Thanks to the dedication of biking activists as well as to the commitment of the local government, the city has seen the layout of numerous bike paths, as well as the opening up of major avenues for cyclists on Sundays.

But there is still room for improvement. What is attractive about biking in São Paulo? What could be improved to stimulate biking? What does biking culture and the biking experience look like? And how could it be opened up and made more attractive to a wider population? During two workshops participants will try to elaborate on these questions. They will be engaged in a collective mapping of biking culture in São Paulo.

To address these questions, participants were invited in a workshop Bikeability to collectively go out and map the biking culture on their regular biking routes with the use of the SnappThis-app, developed by the Amsterdam Citizen Data Lab. On their return they discussed their results and draw a road map for issues to address in working towards establishing a more welcoming culture for cyclists in São Paulo. Read more beneath about the two workshops.

The results of the workshops are presented in a publication. Read the publication on ISSUU, or download the PDF below.

• Download: Round N Around

Bikeability Workshop

Workshop Design Lab and conference