Bruno, M.J. MA
Governance and Innovation in Cycling: How can user-centred models build a sustainable transportation system?
Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, m.j.bruno@tue.nl
Supervisor: Dr. Frank Schipper, Prof. Ruth Oldenziel, Prof. Rob Raven
Background
I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Letters. My honor’s thesis focused on how changes in movie theater architecture reflected a change in how people conceived of public space. I graduated with a Master of Arts in Urban Policy and Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. My master’s thesis explored the impact of a new subway station on pedestrians and cyclists in the area. I also have a Master of Science degree in Geoinformatics from the University of Twente. My thesis centered on the modelling of student movement across campus.
Summary
New technologies promise to lower the barriers to cycling and a renewed interest in cycling has created the potential for cycling to play a larger role in the transition to a more sustainable transportation system. In recent years, decentralized, multi-level governance systems have increased in popularity as a means to implement new institutional, political, and regulatory arrangements, providing a more effective alternative to top-down hierarchical government arrangements (Capano, Rayner, & Zito, 2012). If well implemented, these forms of governance have the potential to help further the position of cycling as a part of a more sustainable transportation system. Successful implementation, however, requires a comprehensive understanding of how cycling is governed in the current transportation landscape, including an understanding of how institutional forces can both help and hinder the upscaling of innovations in cycling. This information is not currently available. Studies have been conducted from the multi-level perspective that focus on stability and tensions in the socio-technical regime of mobility in the Netherlands and these studies have included cycling (Turnheim, Hakansson, & Berkhout, 2015). These studies, however, often give most of their focus to the automobility, and, more importantly, consider issues of mobility at a national level. This results in an incomplete understanding of governance in relation to the management of cycling innovation within the transportation system. This understanding is critical if cycling is to be promoted as one of the central elements of a larger sustainable transportation system. The following question, therefore, forms the central theme of this research project:
What is the role of governance in cycling innovation in terms of serving not only current and potential users situated within a particular geographic context but also society as a whole by facilitating the upscaling of successful innovations?
