My name is Mohammad Nazarpoor and I’m a cycling researcher and advocate interested in exploring the cultural, social, and political dimensions of cycling experience through an anthropological lens. In this interview series, I’ll be talking to scholars in the field about their experiences with ethnographic methods in cycling research. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of how these approaches can help us better understand the complex dynamics of urban cycling.
In this post, Roy Symons, a Sustainable Transportation Specialist and founder of Rolling in the City, shares his methods, insights, and lessons learned from his travels and observations. Roy’s approach to weaving together elements of cycling infrastructure, culture, and personal experiences into a coherent and engaging narrative is both unique and inspiring. You can read about his books in our Book Review.
How do you approach weaving together elements of cycling infrastructure, culture, and personal experiences into a coherent and engaging narrative?
For the most part, We do not have a plan for what I’m going to write about when on my travels. I simply document what catches my attention with a camera, and describe that later in words. We will book our accommodation in cities we would like to visit for one reason or another, but often that reason is that they are good for cycling. Cities that are good for cycling are usually pretty nice cities to visit too. I rarely do any research before arriving in a new city, and that can be both a good and a bad thing. I get to experience it with little in the way of preconceived ideas about it, but occasionally I can miss something I would have liked to see.
Often, I have a few things I’ve seen through social media that I want to see first-hand, for example, the Hovenring in Eindhoven or the Amsterdam bike parking, but equally, I’ll come back home and see something on social media that I’m disappointed that I missed, the bike tunnel in Rotterdam being one example from the trip in 2022, I still haven’t been back to see that yet. A more recent example is the new bike parking at Gare du Nord in Paris. You can never see everything, and if nothing else, it provides a reason to go back.
There is a very real perspective you gain by not doing much research. If things are good in terms of the bicycle infrastructure, it shouldn’t matter where I go in a city, or between cities, it should be comfortable and easy to find routes where I need to go. To date, that only really happens in the Netherlands. When you go to a city with a checklist of things like the Amsterdam bike parkade above, you of course see those things, but you have probably already figured out safe routes to get between them. You can miss the normal day-to-day things as well as chance encounters. Just getting on your bike and riding from one city to another reveals so much about a country’s intent towards people walking and cycling, and are best experienced without a plan. In making that statement, I acknowledge I’ve had the luxury of time on my trips though, and with less time, better-planned trips and routes to see the highlights will make sense for many. This route along the canal was just where we ended up and the windmills made it the perfect Dutch scene.
On some occasions I will put more effort in, for example, I came back from the Fietspad trip with few good examples of Woonerf’s, real residential Woonerf’s that is, which are rarer than you might expect. On the subsequent trip, that was something I scoured online maps prior to arrival in each city to find some better examples, looking for streets with a little wiggle in them that suggests there is a lateral shift. I’d then add that as a stopping point in my map app. This example below was in The Hague, and there were quite a few in this neighborhood. When I turned around after this shot, there was even a parent and child playing football, just like the sign.
Could you share any insights or lessons you’ve learned about the role of storytelling and narrative in fostering understanding and empathy around cycling issues?
Unfortunately, in some places, the simple act of riding a bicycle has become so divisive in society today, so it’s a real challenge to create any meaningful empathy towards the need to enable more people to do it from those with no interest. The majority in favour of cycling is growing though, we might be at very different stages in different cities, but with a few exceptions, are generally moving in the right direction. From my perspective, I continue to provide insights for those who are curious, hopefully capturing one or two more with each blog post. The biggest cultural shock in the Netherlands is seeing kids riding around the city by themselves. The scene below of the kids in Utrecht riding along a bicycle street in the city centre should inspire us all to try and make that possible in our own cities.
I can only hope my photos help convey to those interested that riding a bicycle is for everyone and anyone, that it does not have to be dangerous, that it can be done without a helmet or hi-viz, and that change is possible in any city, anywhere in the world. Just as people say we’re not Amsterdam to excuse themselves for the need to do better, In Canada, we sometimes here we’re not Vancouver or Victoria, as if only people in big cities deserve safe routes to get around by bicycle. Where you used to have to go to the Netherlands to see kids being taken to school by cargo bike, go sit outside any elementary school in Vancouver or Victoria today. It wasn’t always like this.
Going back to empathy around cycling, it is somewhat of a catch-22 situation. Without the infrastructure, all we have is the brave few “cyclists” so to speak, and unfortunately, people riding bicycles when they are such a minority are often dehumanized by those behind a windshield. The infrastructure absolutely must come first, it requires political leadership, and it can’t just be a one-off corridor, it must be a network, and it must be built in a relatively short timeframe if it’s to make a real difference. It doesn’t always have to be high-cost raised cycle tracks, it can be quick-build protected bike lanes, or even quick-build local street bikeways, like this one on Ontario Street in Vancouver being well used with just low-cost modal filters for the most part.
In your experience, what have been some of the challenges and rewards of using ethnographic methods and personal experiences to inform your blog content?
There are no significant obstacles other than finding the time to venture out, capture moments, and assemble them into a narrative. Whether I’m riding a bike, or walking, whether I’m on vacation or not, it’s not really a challenge or hardship. Riding bikes and exploring new cities is almost always fun. Regardless of the end goal, be that a blog post or book, I really enjoy the act of documenting things as they unfold and most photographs are taken spontaneously, capturing fleeting observations. If I encounter favorable lighting conditions, I may patiently wait for someone to pass by hoping to capture interesting people using interesting infrastructure in interesting light. Sometimes that wait becomes frustrating and I move on, usually just as the perfect subjects appears around the corner. I don’t think the pursuit of good photos and good infrastructure will ever end, there are always things to learn whether that be related to the art of photography or the art of designing bicycle infrastructure. Below is a photo of Roy exploring the small island of Texel to see how the far reaches of the Netherlands compare with the bigger cities. It’s great there if you were wondering, and there’s always something interesting.
In an ideal world, I would dedicate more time to finding the perfect example of a piece of infrastructure, timing my visit to it during favorable weather and lighting conditions to create that perfect image. The chance encounter of a captivating subject entering the frame in good light elevates the photo from mere documentation to a form of art and this I think has the potential to be more captivating and inspiring to more people. When you make something look interesting, more people become interested. However, achieving this for every image would require a full-time commitment which isn’t an option at the moment.
With respect to rewards, it’s just nice to hear that people enjoy the blog posts and books, but honestly, I enjoy trying to capture a scene, and explain why it is how it is. I may be right, or I may be wrong, but it makes me think and form opinions, and that makes me a better engineer. Writing things down and sharing them publicly requires me to have thought things through and be confident in my position on things, and that is a valuable asset when trying to come up with creative solutions for new projects. Taking advisory bike lanes seems like a good idea in principle, but it took the experience of riding many different implementations to really appreciate the nuances of them. In this example, the red lane gave us comfort we had a right to be there and were not just getting in the way, but some drivers stayed in the central grey portion, rather than using the empty opposing bike lane, resulting in a close pass. Conversely, on low-speed and low-volume roads, advisory lanes can be very comfortable.
At a broader community level, it’s just nice to see things gaining traction. The continuous sidewalks and bike paths we designed in Nanaimo might be the biggest success story, the idea originating from a trip to Amsterdam, and years later being implemented on a project in Canada. Seeing such positive feedback inspires me to keep going, learning and sharing more. Seeing continuous sidewalks in Kitchener, Ottawa, or Edmonton is probably the greatest reward I could ask for… There’s so much more we can learn about street design from elsewhere, be that other cities in the same country, the Netherlands of course, but even places you’re not expecting to get ideas from will usually have some little detail or another that we can learn from.
Can you share any interesting anecdotes or behind-the-scenes stories that illustrate the impact of using a narrative-driven, ethnographic approach in your blog?
In terms of the impacts my blog posts have, my hope is that others find them interesting and derive something from them. I want them to see something, whether it is from Paris, Utrecht, or Nanaimo, and think, “I can do that on my next project.” While I would love to be the one to implement all the lessons learned in my books or blog, it is simply not possible. However, if I can inspire someone else to try something, and that provides another example that demonstrates its effectiveness, everyone can benefit. This example showing substantial road space reallocation in Paris is a great example of what can be done with political leadership.
As for any behind-the-scenes, stories, there’s not much to tell, the blog has changed how we vacation for sure, and luckily my wife enjoys riding her bike and places that are safe for biking too. Hopefully, I am in one place long enough to capture enough interesting photos, but even one full day can capture at least the essence of a city if not the entire picture. It has changed how we travel, for example, buying the folding Brompton’s to give us the freedom to go where we want and have our own bikes, the right bag that allows me to carry a camera on the bike, and access it quickly when needed, and of course the cameras that I take. We now travel pretty light, with just five or so days worth of clothes, switching the large Brompton bags out for smaller ones on days when we’re not moving location. The Brompton really is a game changer, and not having it on our most recent trip just added an obstacle to biking when and wherever we wanted.
The impact of my trips, the books and blog posts takes time. The ideas from the Fietspad book were documented in 2023, from a trip in 2022. Then last year I started a volunteer project with the Transportation Association of Canada Active Transportation integrated Committee to explore the ideas in greater detail and document them in a formal technical publication that can hopefully inspire others in Canada. It’s still a work in progress, but hopefully it is completed in 2025. Taking the ideas from my trips and finding ways to bring it into projects or better yet, formal guidance is for sure the next step, so the work doesn’t stop when the blog post goes up, that’s only where the thoughts are formed, and the work really begins after.
How do you see the role of cycling photo essays in shaping public understanding and discourse on cycling issues through narrative and experiential storytelling?
I am a huge believer in sharing valuable experiences and lessons learned, and that comes partly from the earlier days of my career where I was lacking inspiration, and then finding that in both books and social media and almost being overwhelmed with inspiration. I went from being a transportation engineer that just did what he was taught at school to realizing there is a whole other world of perspectives out there. Unfortunately, social media has become a minefield these days, but in the early days it was an essential resource to enhance knowledge, gain new perspectives, and understand how things were being done elsewhere around the world. Social media and other avenues for sharing has been a huge catalyst for change, how would I learn so easily about things like a random bicycle street being constructed in Vienna. Would I have gone there if I had not seen that on social media?
I think the sharing of experiences and willingness to apply critical thinking to the experiences from others, absorb and process it and think how it can be applied in your own context is essential to our progress in this field. I’m fortunate that I have been able to spend a lot of time in the Netherlands for example, and through those trips have uncovered so many elements of street design that I wouldn’t otherwise be aware of. The lessons brought back are hopefully useful to others and can play a small part in helping more communities become more comfortable for people travelling by active modes of transportation. The blog and the books are just one of many avenues to find such information, and I hope everyone enjoys it and takes a little nugget of inspiration each time they read something.
For reading other interviews in this series, take a look at:
