Hubs & Spokes: Threading the Wheels of Chicago’s Bike Culture

Hubs & Spokes: Threading the Wheels of Chicago’s Bike Culture
IHC/file
Hubs & Spokes: Threading the Wheels of Chicago’s Bike Culture
IHC/file

Hubs & Spokes: Threading the Wheels of Chicago’s Bike Culture

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Chicago cyclists take to urban roads with a variety of fabricated gear and a fistful of reasons that span the personal and the political, the practical and the philosophical.

Does Chicago, then, have a “bike culture”? If so, what does it looks like? Where does it comes from? How does it function in this urban environment? And how does an everyday activity influence someone’s identity? Do people from diverse backgrounds, viewpoints and neighborhoods classify themselves as cyclists, and what does it mean to do so?

Listen in as Zack Furness moderates a discussion that asks three bicycle activists to consider these questions about Chicagoan bike culture. Zack Furness is the author of One Less Car: Bike Culture and the Politics of Cycling, which explores the ways that cyclists in the United States have politicized bicycles and everyday cycling as a response to the proliferation of car culture and the ideology of automobility. The panelists include: Alex Wilson, founder of West Town Bikes and Ciclo Urbano; Chicago Bicycle Activist Kathy Schubert; and Adolfo Hernandez, Director of Advocacy at the Active Transportation Alliance.

The event took place as part of the Chicago Public Radio Presents series, produced by Chicago Public Radio in partnership with the Illinois Humanities Council and Active Transportation Alliance.

Recorded Saturday, May 30, 2009 at Hyde Park Art Center.