Urban cycling perspective as a political sense in São Paulo, Brazil: Work experiences in cycling culture

Abstract

The objective of this study was to understand the phenomenon of urban cycling as a political sense in perspective of work experiences to promote cycling in São Paulo, Brazil. As the research methodology, a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach was used, based on the descriptors link, shelter, fixation, reiteration, and support of discourse analysis of five subjects working as bicycle mechanic, bike courier agency manager, organizer of sporting events with mountain bike, manager of a bike shop, and public manager of bicycling infrastructure. In the construction of the results, the following units of meaning emerged: a) social values in professional activities with bicycle, b) environmental health in road sharing, and c) education and public policy for sustainability. We find that category «urban cycling as a cultural construct» represents the semantic, existential, and metaphysical sense of the political manifestation of bicycling towards citizenship and human rights to sustainable active mobility by bicycle in São Paulo.