Sustainable Development in a Megacity
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Sustainable development in a megacity Assessing a shared public bicycle scheme in Mexico City Ragnhild Harsvik Ødegaard Master Thesis in Human Geography Department of Geography University of Bergen May 2019 Abstract Expanding urbanization, urban challenges and pathways towards sustainable urban development are topics that have received increased attention during the last decade, especially in view of the growing focus on mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Moreover, fossil fuel consumption related to transport has been identified as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas, and as such greening of urban mobilities has emerged as a priority in many cities. This thesis is based on fieldwork undertaken in Mexico City during the months of June and July 2018. The empirical data obtained is supplemented with a theoretical framework including concepts such as sustainable development, Campbell’s trinity of planning, the system of automobility and urban inequality, as well as a review of literature related to bike-sharing schemes in general and selected case studies. The main aim of this research have been to explore the concepts of sustainable development and mobility in a megacity, by assessing a shared public bicycle scheme in Mexico City and analysing its performance and impacts. The research topics has been addressed through the following research question: In what ways does Ecobici contribute to a more sustainable urban development? The study approaches these issues by identifying the users, their main motivation for using Ecobici and the most prominent constraints and opportunities the scheme faces. Furthermore, it explores the relation between intentioned and actual use. The findings indicate that most of the users are men with higher education. Ecobici is mainly used for transport purposes and the majority uses the scheme with high frequency and in combination with other means of transport. A significant number of users substitutes non-public means of transport with bike-sharing. Convenience aspects emerge as the main motivation for using the bikes and is also listed as the most prominent advantage, while maintenance and the scheme’s design are aspects that call for improvement. Among non-users the most listed barriers for using Ecobici are security issues, lack of infrastructure, accessibility and vial culture. The aims of the scheme and its outcomes do to a large extent correspond. The results from the study indicate that Ecobici and bike-sharing schemes in general brings about several benefits, both on an individual and societal level, but that they fail to address the aspect of social equity given that it seems to reach only certain segment of society. In other words, bike-sharing does not fully contribute to sustainable urban development and further research are needed in order to outline adequate measures to ensure more equal access. II Acknowledgements Almost exactly one year have passed since I packed my bags and headed off to Mexico City to convey fieldwork and almost two since I stepped into the first information meeting at the master program, with only a vague idea about what was awaiting me. Working with this project has felt overwhelming at times, and it has been a quite a bumpy journey with a lot of frustration and ups and downs. However, the experience of doing fieldwork alone in a foreign country, the small victories along the road and the sense of achievement when I managed to overcome challenges and accomplish smaller and bigger tasks throughout the process has been a driving force for seeing the project through. As such, it feels even more satisfactory to finally be able to say, “I made it!” Writing this thesis has been a rather lonely journey, but still there are quite a few people that I want to express my gratitude to. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Håvard Haarstad for valuable academic input and for still believing in me and encouraging me to continue, when I felt the whole project was going nowhere. To my colleagues at The Collaboratory for cheering me up and giving me the opportunity to work with non-master related projects. My good friend Elesban Citalan Rodriguez for valuable help and guidance in the field, Anna Dybwad Alstad and Ulf Rangsæter for proofreading the final draft, Fabian Rocha for helping me with the references, my old friend Morten Spjøtvold for moral support and my parents for stacking the cabin-fridge for my two weeks of intensive writing get-away. Finally, yet importantly, a big thank to all my informants for their contributions and to my husband Ricardo Tlatelpa Sanchez for supporting me on a daily basis – I couldn’t have done it without you! Ragnhild Harsvik Ødegaard 15.05.19 III Table of contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Selection of topic and field area .................................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Bike-sharing ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Mexico City ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.1.3 Ecobici ..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Research question ......................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Delimitation of field area............................................................................................................... 6 2. Theoretical approach and literature review ........................................................................................ 7 2.1 Sustainable development .............................................................................................................. 7 2.1.1 Sustainable urban development ............................................................................................ 8 2.1.2 Campbell’s trinity of urban planning ...................................................................................... 9 2.2 Mobility ....................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 System of automobility ........................................................................................................ 13 2.2.2 Sustainable mobility paradigm ............................................................................................. 14 2.2.3 Urban inequality ................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Bike-sharing: lessons learned ...................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Barriers and facilitators ........................................................................................................ 16 2.3.2 Success factors ..................................................................................................................... 17 2.3.3 Performance ......................................................................................................................... 18 2.3.4 Impacts ................................................................................................................................. 19 2.3.5 Inequalities ........................................................................................................................... 19 2.3.6 Bike-sharing in Asia............................................................................................................... 21 2.3.7 Ecobici Mexico City ............................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Summary...................................................................................................................................... 22 3. Context .............................................................................................................................................. 25 3.1 Mexico City .................................................................................................................................. 25 3.1.1 Mobility issues ...................................................................................................................... 27 3.1.2 Means of transport ............................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Ecobici .......................................................................................................................................... 30 3.3 Description of field area .............................................................................................................. 32 3.2.1 Ecobici area........................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.2 Roma Norte .......................................................................................................................... 35 3.2.3 Centro ................................................................................................................................... 36 4. Methodology and methods ..............................................................................................................