COVID-19, commuter territories and the e-bike boom

Gordon Waitt; Ian Buchanan; Tess Lea; Glen Fuller

doi:10.1111/area.12814

COVID-19, commuter territories and the e-bike boom

Area (Oxf). 2022 Jul 8:10.1111/area.12814. doi: 10.1111/area.12814. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Gordon Waitt¹, Ian Buchanan², Tess Lea³, Glen Fuller⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia.
² School of Humanities and Social Enquiry University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia.
³ Department of Gender and Cultural Studies University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia.
⁴ Faculty of Arts and Design University of Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia.

Abstract

The appearance and integration of e-bikes in public space is a source of much debate worldwide. This paper offers insights to these debates by reflecting on how Deleuze and Guattari's concept of assemblage as territory helps us to understand the uptake of e-bike commuter cycling during the Covid-19 pandemic through empirical material from a study conducted in Sydney, Australia. Here we conceptualise commuter journeys in terms of processes of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation; experienced through the affective territories generated by e-bikes. The disclosure of commuter cycling sensations generated by the pandemic disruptions to commuter routines provided an important lens through which to understand the uptake of e-bikes. The paper concludes by showing the utility of the concept of territory as a means of theorising changes to everyday mobility practices.

The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). © 2022 The Authors. Area published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).