Written by Mohammad Nazarpoor
People do not merely observe the city as they move through it; they actively constitute the city through their mobile practices. From this perspective, cycling is not just a physical movement from point A to point B; it is an embodied, affective, and critical practice that enriches the experience of everyday urban life. Cyclists develop diverse ways to actively engage with urban spaces, with the body playing a crucial role in exploring and experiencing the environment. The bicycle, initially a tool for navigating urban places, becomes an extension of the cyclist’s body. Therefore, exploring the “lived body” should be the central focus of cycling research from a phenomenological perspective, to truly understand the lived experiences of cycling in various contexts.
The concept of the “lived body,” which contrasts with the anatomical structure of the body, is considered the foundation of our being-in-the-world and embodies all aspects of human existence. In Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, the subject is the body, the object is the worldly experience, and the relationship between these two forms our consciousness.
This is the body as a set of possibilities for action that we each experience for ourselves from the inside out. Based on his philosophy each of us is a physical body with a perspective of the world before turning into a conscious being. The Body forms its worldly experiences by interacting with other beings, other humans, and its habitat. Therefore, a lived body isn’t just an object in the world but rather a way to manifest the universe.
The body is the main tool through which cyclists move, explore, and experience their surrounding environment. While riding, my body becomes the pivot of the world, developing my lived spatial knowledge. I build my experiences by engaging my entire body and muscles to pedal and produce energy that helps me experience the urban spaces around me. I learn to come to grips (Merleau-Ponty, 2012) with the spaces through a process of exploration and discovery. My capacity for understanding the city through cycling depends on the construction of my body which has its space.
Before producing effects in the material realm (tools and objects), before producing itself by drawing nourishment from that realm, and before reproducing itself by generating other bodies, each living body is space and has its space: it produces itself in space and it also produces that space (Lefebvre, 1991: 170).
Cycling facilitates an embodied meaning-making of place through contextual sensory experiences. Unlike driving, riding a bike provides access to a different embodied knowledge of moving through the social and physical geographies of a place, enabling a more intimate connection with the environment. As a cyclist, I experience the urban environment more fully—its sights, sounds, smells, sensations, and even tastes—unlike car drivers who remain isolated from these elements within their private capsules.
Cyclists embody the knowledge of the energy used in mobility, whereas drivers are more alienated from the energy consumed in their movement (Nixon, 2012). During cycling, the interactive relationship between the body and the environment can be quite intense, as the cyclist moves with the landscape. A 30-year-old young man explains this as:
“When riding a bicycle, you pay more attention to the problems, good and bad, of an area. For example, a bicycle rider who crosses somewhere is more connected to the place than a car driver passing that same place. It seems that you are involved in all surrounding environments. You can also hear others’ voices. Riding a bicycle is very different from sitting in a car, passing indifferently, and leaving things too fast. When you are riding your bike, you cannot be indifferent. You feel involved; you think about things very closely.”
Additionally, riding practice causes the bike to disappear from the user’s perception, similar to the cane in Merleau-Ponty’s example of the blind man. The bike, initially a tool for communicating with urban places, merges with the body of the cyclist. As Merleau-Ponty suggested, with skilful use, the tool (in this case, my bike) ceases to be a direct object of experience and becomes a medium through which we experience the world—analogous to how we experience through the body itself (Hale, 2017). In frequently ridden spaces, we develop an implicit bodily awareness of where objects are located, allowing us to move around easily without conscious effort.
“To habituate oneself to a hat, an automobile, or a cane is to take up residence in them, or inversely, to make them participate in the voluminosity of one’s own body. Habit expresses the power we have of dilating our being in the world, or of altering our existence through incorporating new instruments” (Merleau-Ponty, 2012: 145).
Cycling is also a rhythmic practice, requiring a set of skills that are gradually attained. These skills encompass not only the coordination between the body and the bicycle but also our relationship with the rhythmic order of the spaces we move. The type of bicycle directly influences the cycling rhythm. City bikes, with their limited speed capacity and upright riding position, promote a slower rhythm, making them ideal for detailed observation and understanding of urban spaces. In contrast, road bikes, designed for higher speeds and aerodynamics, offer a faster rhythm but limit the scope of landscapes one can engage with.
From this perspective, cycling embodies a unique cyclical rhythm, shaped by factors such as gender, physical abilities, and the type of bicycle used. This rhythm interacts with the pulse and rhythm of the city, creating a distinctive experience within urban spaces. The interplay between the body, the type of bicycle, and the dominant spatial order of different environments ultimately defines the rhythm of cycling. A 28-year-old young woman:
“Riding was hard at first, especially for me as a woman. We have to control a lot of things. In Tehran, a city designed for drivers, cycling was even harder than driving for women. But gradually, you learn how to ride and how to survive on the streets.”
When cycling as a group, each rider follows a line at a constant speed, creating a harmonious flow where our bodies intuitively learn from one another. This collective movement requires us to attune to the bodily rhythms of others, fostering a deep sense of connection and mutual understanding. It is not just a physical challenge but also a form of bodily protest, transforming the street into a stage where life unfolds dynamically. Through this act, our bodies challenge the conventional belief that spaces should be purely functional and that bodies should remain passive and docile. Instead, we assert that public spaces are meant for active, engaged, and expressive human experiences.
Cycling practice as a mobile sense-making, experiencing, and meaningful engagement with the environment should be the primary focus of our attention in cycling research. By emphasizing how cyclists interact with their surroundings, we can uncover the profound ways in which movement shapes our understanding of space and community. This approach highlights the importance of bodily engagement and the dynamic relationship between cyclists and their environment, challenging traditional notions of functionality and passivity in public spaces. Through this lens, cycling becomes not just a mode of transportation, but a powerful medium for social and spatial critique, fostering a more connected and expressive urban experience.
References
- Hale, J. A. (2017). Merleau-Ponty for architects. New York: Routledge.
- Jones, P. (2005). “Performing the City: A Body and a Bicycle Take on Birmingham.” UK, Social & Cultural Geography 6 (6): 813–830.
- Lefebvre, H. (1991 [1974]). The Production of Space, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith, Oxford: Blackwell.
- Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012) Phenomenology of Perception, trans. Landes, D.A. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
- Nixon, D. V. (2012). A sense of momentum: Mobility practices and dis/embodied landscapes of energy use. Environment and Planning A, 44, 1661–1678.
