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The contribution of human powered vehicles and new bicycle technologies to mobility in Africa
Dr Peter Cox
Cycles and sustainable development
• What kind of cities do we want to have?– equality of access (affordability and inclusivity) – safe for all (young and old alike) – desirable environments – high air quality – low noise pollution
• Hyper-mobility (too much) is as much a problem as hypo-mobility (too little)
• Cleaner fuels can simply lead to smogless congestion• Well-planned sustainable development holds the
possibility of a ‘leapfrog’ factor - bypassing the wasted years of auto-domination (visible in congested British cities)
Successful examples -Infrastructure and Advocacy
Planning for cycling is not a matter of luxury but a matter of justice
• I-CE (Interface for Cycling Expertise - Netherlands)– Partnering European experience of infrastructure planning with local
development strategies
• BEN (Bicycling Empowerment Network South Africa)– Demonstrating multiple benefits of cycling
• Access to work and education• Increased productivity• Building light engineering
capacity
• Health, fitness and wellbeing• Higher quality public space• Potential for indigenous
production and endogenous economic growth
Barriers: perceptual and industrial
• Popular sterotypes of cycle obsolescence can be overcome by innovative design
• Link cycling with positive social imagery
• High quality and integral infrastructure
• Ambivalence of importing second-hand machinery – only a partial solution
• Current manufacturing investment from China
• Obvious opportunities for introduction of specifically built and designed cycles for African markets
Technologies as social constructions
• The bicycle is not a ‘designed’ technology but arises through a series of compromises and conventions
“…the absurdity of bicycle design progress for the last hundred years or so…
If car design had taken the same route [as cycle design], we would be driving Model A cars with titanium frames and the hand crank would be carbon fibre.”Leigh Wade Bike Report May 1990
Innovations in frame design
Load carrying and work bikes
Future technologies
• User innovators in EU and in Africa tend to be knowledge rich but resource poor
• Co-design engaging with open source approaches
• Creative solutions
Human-electric hybrid vehicles
The Bakmobile
a hybrid power delivery vehicle
• Pedal and electric combined allow much lighter weight than conventional electric vehicles
• Regenerative braking to maximise range
• Potential for solar cell addition to make entirely self-contained vehicle
Opportunities for investment
• Not just infrastructure
• Rider experience matters
• Partnership analysis of needs and solutions enables better planning
• Endogenous manufacture The mayor of Cape Town going by cycle taxi…