A thesis submitted to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University in part fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Science Contested Streets, Contested Technology The Appropriation of the Bicycle and the Performative Politics of Critical Mass in Budapest and Prague: A Case Study. CEU eTD Collection Lauren OTHON-BUCKLEY May, 2010 Budapest i Erasmus Mundus Masters Course in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management MESPOM This thesis is submitted in fulfillment of the Master of Science degree awarded as a result of successful completion of the Erasmus Mundus Masters course in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) jointly operated by the University of the Aegean (Greece), Central European University (Hungary), Lund University (Sweden) and the University of Manchester (United Kingdom). Supported by the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus Programme CEU eTD Collection ii Notes on copyright and the ownership of intellectual property rights: (1) Copyright in text of this thesis rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European University Library. Details may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the Author. (2) The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this thesis is vested in the Central European University, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement. (3) For bibliographic and reference purposes this thesis should be referred to as: Othon-Buckley, L 2010. Contested Streets, Contested Technology – The Appropriation of the Bicycle and the Performative Politics of Critical Mass in Budapest and Prague: A Case Study, Master of Science thesis, Central European University, Budapest. Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take place is available from the Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University. CEU eTD Collection iii Author’s declaration No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Lauren OTHON-BUCKLEY CEU eTD Collection iv CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT OF THESIS submitted by: Lauren OTHON-BUCKLEY for the degree of Master of Science and entitled: Contested Streets, Contested Technology: The Appropriation of the Bicycle and the Performative Politics of Critical Mass in Budapest and Prague: A Case Study. Month and Year of submission: May, 2010. Urban spaces reflect the very nature of our society – the dominant socioeconomic ideology in our culture, our attitudes toward each other, the environment, and materiality. Modern urban planning and the capitalist fetishism of automobiles, have led to the colonization of urban spaces by a systemic phenomenon known as automobility, composed of the social, cultural, spatial and economic aspects associated with cars. The Situationists International, a group of avante garde artists and theorists from the late 1950s, were particularly concerned with the dominating aspect of automobility on their cities, and advocated for a reconception of the everyday through the creation of situations – alternative possibilities that broke away from the normal use of space. In this sense, Critical Mass, a social movement that contests the dominant use of city streets and spaces by automobility, by replacing traffic with a moving mass of bicycles, marks a resurgence of Situationist principles. Furthermore, it continues a long tradition of politicizing the bicycle as a technology, not only as a mobilizing tool, but also as the fundamental idea behind a new revolution in transport mobility. This is particularly true in the Central European cities of Budapest and Prague, where record numbers of participants and significant changes in bicycle infrastructure and culture, are testament to the demonstrative and practical power of Critical Mass’ pedaling revolution. CEU eTD Collection Keywords: < automobility, bicycle, critical mass, public space, social movements, situationist international, urban space, Prague, Budapest.> v Acknowledgements This project owes its inspiration and completion to a number of people. First, I would like to thank Tamara Steger for assuring me that this was indeed a topic worthy of research and one that she would fully support and supervise. Her guidance, advice and perspective have been crucial to the development of this project as well as to my own as a researcher. Thank you to Alan Watt for exposing me to the involved world of Environmental Philosophy, and challenging me to consider the human condition in more ways than I previously considered possible. Thank you to Kriszta Szabados and Irina Herzeg for their generous and unconditional support and understanding throughout my two years studying at Central European University. Furthermore, thank you to the Central European University Foundation for providing funding for thesis research. A big thank you to Justin Hyatt, Daniel Mourek, Sinya, and all the other people who were gracious enough to talk to me about their work and experiences with Critical Mass and bicycling in the city. You are all an inspiration to me. An especially large thank you to Zoltan Arvai, without whom much of this research would have been impossible, or at the very least, empty. And finally, I would like to thank Milos Milicevic, for his countless offerings of wisdom, critique and praise, without which I would never have embarked on a project such as this. CEU eTD Collection vi Contested Streets, Contested Technology The Appropriation of the Bicycle and the Performative Politics of Critical Mass in Budapest and Prague: A Case Study. CEU eTD Collection Lauren OTHON-BUCKLEY Master’s of Science in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management (MESPOM) MAY 2010 vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................2 1.1 THE BICYCLE: A PERSONAL NOTE.................................................................................................................2 1.2 BACKGROUND ..............................................................................................................................................4 1.3 THE CASE OF BUDAPEST AND PRAGUE...........................................................................................................7 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................................................. 11 1.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 14 2.2 POLITICIZATION OF THE BICYCLE ................................................................................................................ 15 2.2.1 Feminism............................................................................................................................................ 16 2.2.2 19th century Socialists ........................................................................................................................ 19 2.2.3 Environmentalism and the Bicycle....................................................................................................... 20 2.3 AUTOMOBILITY AND PUBLIC SPACE............................................................................................................ 23 2.4 THE SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL............................................................................................................ 27 2.5 CRITICAL MASS AND THE PERFORMATIVE CRITIQUE .................................................................................... 30 2.6 GAPS IN THE LITERATURE............................................................................................................................ 34 CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................................................ 35 3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN..................................................................................................................................... 36 3.1.2 Literature review ................................................................................................................................ 37 3.1.3 Data Collection .................................................................................................................................. 38 3.1.4 Interviews........................................................................................................................................... 38 3.1.5 Archival Research............................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................................................................