Urban cycling in Buenos Aires. Mobilities and ethnography

Abstract

In this paper I approach the practice of urban cycling in the city of Buenos Aires. I review socio-cultural studies on urban cycling and I try to carry out an ethnography exercise to reflect on some aspects which relate to the practice of cycling in the city. In both parts of the paper, the paradigm of mobilities guides the interpretations. The data displayed here is the outcome of a fieldwork period focused on active mobility in the city of Buenos Aires between 2016 and 2017. When carrying out the research, it was noted that every mobility practice (active mobility practice in this case) is necessarily a bodily practice, which generates senses and meanings, as well socialisation spaces which those with whom the cycling is shared, and knowledge about the transited urban environments is re-elaborated. Finally, I identified the conformation of a socialisation space through the intentional and collective tours that are emerging in the city and which add greater heterogeneity to urban cycling.