On the morning of my fieldwork I woke up early to ‘sneak’ out of the hotel on a rental bike so that the lecturers didn’t see me as I rode off into a wet and snowy Berlin to conduct my research. I ‘snuck’ off because I was afraid that the lecturers wouldn’t let me cycle through Berlin for fear of me getting myself run over. Although this was just me probably overthinking it, I believe it perfectly sums up the difference in attitudes towards cycling in Leicester and Berlin. Whereas Berliners see cycling as a cheap, fast, environmentally friendly, healthy, practical, convenient and safe way of travelling (Visit Berlin, 2018), us Brits see it as a slow, tiring and dangerous mode of transport. I cycled from the hotel by East Side Gallery to Mauer Park and back along the Berliner Mauerweg (The Berlin Wall Trail), which traces the course of the former Berlin Wall, marked by a simple cobblestone line in the ground, running interminably through the city.
This first video is what I assumed my lecturers would have associated cycling with. It appears to show some of the main disadvantages of cycling; wet, surrounded by cars and breathing in the exhaust fumes of the big tourist bus. However, for me, through the embodied experience of cycling, it was much more. Germany has made cycling a safe, convenient and practical way to get around its cities through key policies and innovative measures, such as priority traffic signals for cyclists, and stringent training of motorists to respect cyclists (Pucher & Buehler, 2008). This was immediately evident, as motorists seemed to be aware of my presence and let me travel through the city safely and unencumbered.
This second video better depicts some of cycling’s benefits, a convenient, safe and enjoyable mode of transport, even if it was still cold and wet. This is thanks to Berlin’s cycle friendly infrastructure, which goes hand in hand with the positive attitude towards cycling. The sooner I realised cycling was not a dangerous experience, the sooner I was able to appreciate and embrace the Berliner Mauerweg.
The stark differences between the two videos, which were filmed within a kilometre of each other, highlight how cycling allows a rider to experience a city in many ways, because they are exposed to a much less managed and more varied sensescape (Jones, 2005). This allowed me to be what some might call an ‘unruly cyclist’, switching between cycle paths and the road and weaving in and out of traffic to follow the cobblestones. This gave me a lot more freedom to follow and experience this scar of the Berlin Wall in the cityscape, because as a cyclist I fit into neither category of vehicle nor pedestrian, neither of which would have been able to traverse roads and paths to follow the Wall as I did on a bike. Cycling also allowed me to experience the cityscape in a way that no other form of mobility can, because I was exposed to the surrounding environment (Jungnickel & Aldred , 2014). Although as a pedestrian I was also exposed to the city, cycling is different because it required me to continuously confront the emerging landscape to ensure safe progress (Cook and Edensor, 2017). Here, one of the major disadvantages of cycling; safety, is transformed into a major advantage, in how it made me more alert of my surroundings. This gives an embodied experience of the city because I was immersed in constantly scanning around me for hazards and was in constant contact with the ground through the extended touch of the wheels. Although this shortened my gaze, it also heightened it to give me a unique view of the city from the saddle.
These ways in which cycling shaped my experience of Berlin can best seen through my interaction with the Berliner Mauerweg, following the cobblestone line through the city. As I cycled along this, for 26km I repeatedly crossed from East to West and West to East. I couldn’t help but think of the geopolitical significance that such a small turn of the handlebars had. I was captivated by the freedom to cross this cobblestone line, where nearly 30 years ago the notorious Berlin Wall stood. Here, the freedom of cycling, and the freedom that the absence of the Wall symbolised since the end of the Cold War seemed to complement each other and come together to give me a wholly liberated experience of Berlin. It is hard to fully express this freedom that cycling gives you in experiencing a new city, without cycling for yourself, so the best way to understand it, is to try it.
Suggested Further Reading and References:
Jones, P. (2005) Performing the city: a body and bicycle take on Birmingham, UK, Social and Cultural Geography, 6(6), pp.813-830.
Jungnickel, K. and Aldred, R. (2014) Cycling’s Sensory Strategies: How Cyclists Mediate their Exposure to the Urban Environment, Mobilities, 9(2), pp.238-255.
Pucher, J. and Buehler, R. (2008) Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from the Netherlands, Denmark and Gemrny, Transport Reviews, 28(4), pp.495-528.
Spinney, J. (2007) Cycling the City, Non-Place and the Sensory Construction of Meaning in a Mobile Practice, IN (Horton, D; rosen, P. and Cox, P. (eds.) Cycling and Society, London: Ashgate Publishing.
Visit Berlin (2018) Cycling in Berlin, Available at: https://www.visitberlin.de/en/cycling-berlin, (Accessed 15th May, 2018).
Tracing Geopolitics in the urban landscape 