Background

The introduction of incentives has led to a significant increase in bicycle purchases. The Coronavirus emergency, immunization measures, and social distancing have revitalized the bicycle as a means of transport in urban and extra-urban spaces. Furthermore, they have laid the groundwork for conceiving the bicycle as a driver of transformation and social innovation, with broader effects on cycle tourism and sports practice.

The benefits of cycling are well-known and scientifically documented for health and mobility. On the other hand, the state of emergency has created a window of opportunity for widespread use. No longer confined to amateur circles, it is now open to broader integration into urban and extra-urban mobility configurations. Purchase data for new bikes are very encouraging. Sales have recorded more than significant increases. Approximately 550,000 bicycles, according to data recently provided by Confindustria ANCMA, have been purchased since shops reopened, leading in some cases to an increase in demand and, consequently, a further boost to supply, which was sometimes caught off guard by an unexpected surge. The incentive policy has, therefore, effectively intercepted new post-Covid-19 mobility needs and, in part, prompted their redefinition, aligning with the green transition that reflects the emerging Zeitgeist toward sustainable mobility modes.

The increase in the available ‘bicycle fleet’ does not, however, automatically translate into more bikes on the road. Indeed, the availability of a technology does not necessarily imply its use. The history of innovation indicates that technologies are not objects independent of their contexts, but are embedded in social configurations that accompany, support, and guarantee their usability. To have more bikes in circulation, it is therefore a matter of building a bicycle ecology that accompanies, intersects, complements, and in some cases replaces the ‘cosmo-technics’ of the car—that complex social, technical, and cultural configuration that structures contemporary mobility within our urban and extra-urban spaces.

The construction of cycling ecologies requires, in particular, a social innovation perspective: the development of an interdisciplinary approach in which technical, economic, and social knowledge can support the redesign of landscapes and cities. This perspective, which drives the positive experiences of bike-friendly cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, does not find similar counterparts in our country. While the world of the car was the subject of extensive research from various disciplinary perspectives during the economic boom, research on bicycles in economics, sociology, sports science, architecture, engineering, law, history, etc., is fragmented, or in some cases, insufficiently developed. The training processes for professionals in the sector cannot rely on a consolidated knowledge base that could support the reconfiguration of spaces in a green manner. There is, therefore, a need to generate interdisciplinary knowledge, support the development of professional identities, and activate training processes that can sustain sustainable forms of mobility.