bikes

While bike riding is not in and of itself a revolutionary activity, recent conflicts in Philadelphia between bike, pedestrian and car culture and the intrusion of city government as a "regulator" force questions about the future of our city, the kind of city we want, who is allowed to use or navigate the city in ways they want and who gets to decide. City government responses to two recent pedestrian (allegedly biker perpetrated) deaths focused on punishing and regulating bikers, many of whom rely on bikes for livelihood, not on the problematics of road/sidewalk use in general. In the debates over safety and the growing use of bicycles, what is truly at stake is a different kind of city where more people from across the class spectrum can navigate urban space freely.