4 PhD positions research program "Bicycle Challenges: Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility" (Eindhoven Univ.)

Von
Schipper, Frank

The research program Bicycle Challenges: Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility investigates the governance of cycling as part of sustainable urban mobility from a long-term perspective and the emergence of new mobility concepts. Within the Bicycle Challenges project there are four open PhD positions. The first PhD within Bicycle Challenges focuses on the governance of cycling in The Netherlands in a transnational context, with emphasis on the institutional role of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment since the 1920s in relation to selected cities and provinces. The second PhD focuses on the multi-level governance of cycling in The Netherlands through a number of historically significant case studies since the Second World War. The third PhD focuses on new mobility concepts in relation to cycling, assessing current trends and their potential. The fourth PhD focuses on the role of connected cycling in relation to the unfolding sharing economy.

Four 4-year PhD Research Projects:

Project leader Prof.dr. R. Oldenziel

Supervisors Prof.dr. R. Oldenziel, Prof.dr. J.F. Jeekel , Prof. dr. G.P.J. Verbong

Theme Bicycle Challenges: Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility

Affiliation Technology, Innovation, and Society (TIS) group, School of Innovation Sciences; Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology

Consortium TU/e, Pon Holding, and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (Rijkswaterstaat)

About the organization

The School of Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology is a national and international research leader in sustainable urban mobility and long-term cycling policies and practices. The Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences (IE&IS) focuses on industrial engineering, management science, and innovation sciences. Today, societies are confronted with a number of major challenges including the transition towards more sustainable systems of production and consumption; the impact of globalization and Europeanization; and the implications of increased connectedness of society through ICT and smart technologies. Technology is a key driver in these transitions. The PhDs will work in the Technology, Innovation, and Society (TIS) group, in particular its history and transition divisions, with their research focus on the long-term transition towards a sustainable society, broadly defined to include environmental, economic, social, institutional, and cultural aspects. The key focus of TIS is the analysis of—and interventions in—long-term structural changes in society towards sustainability.

About the Broader Research Framework

The PhD projects are part of the Bicycle Challenges: Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility project within the SUM Research Program. SUM focuses on the past, present, and future of cycling, pedestrianism, and public transit. Positioned within the university-wide strategic research area Smart Mobility, SUM brings together humanities and social sciences. SUM includes research projects like the NWO-sponsored Smart Cycling Futures (SCF) research; the NWO-sponsored Humanities internationalization research network on the “Cultural Politics of Sustainable Urban Mobility, 1890-Present” (CPSUM); and the Cycling Cities: Hundred Years of Policy and Practice Project. The SUM research program is part of a large collaborative network. Within the Netherlands, this network includes partners such as the Urbanism and Urban Architecture group at university’s Built Environment Department; Pon Holding Company, and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (Rijkswaterstaat); the City of Eindhoven; Brabant Province. Outside the Netherlands, partners include Environmental Humanities at the Rachel Carson Center at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany, Urban Planning at Tongji University, China; and the History Institute at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China.

Job Description

The research program Bicycle Challenges: Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility investigates the governance of cycling as part of sustainable urban mobility from a long-term perspective and the emergence of new mobility concepts. It challenges the focus on urban mobility by looking at the socio-technical challenges of past and current innovations. It engages with historical and sociological research methods.

Within the Bicycle Challenges project there are four open PhD positions. The first PhD within Bicycle Challenges focuses on the governance of cycling in The Netherlands in a transnational context, with emphasis on the institutional role of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment since the 1920s in relation to selected cities and provinces. The second PhD focuses on the multi-level governance of cycling in The Netherlands through a number of historically significant case studies since the Second World War. The third PhD focuses on new mobility concepts in relation to cycling, assessing current trends and their potential. The fourth PhD focuses on the role of connected cycling in relation to the unfolding sharing economy.

- A. Dutch Multi-level Governance of Cycling in Transnational Historical Perspective: PhD no. 1 & 2

Historically, urban public transit, and automobility have had their institutional supporters. Public transit advocates in cities often maintain strong local ties; car advocates are allied to suburban and national constituencies. Politically, cyclists and pedestrians fall between the cracks. Two PhDs will examine historically how cycling policy was shaped institutionally and politically on a national and provincial level in relation to cities and how Dutch cycling expertise has circulated through transnational channels in last century.

PhD 1: Institutional Cycling Politics in a Transnational Context since 1920s

As a bicycle nation, the Netherlands has acquired renewed policy relevance. Dutch national policy has been at the forefront in building bicycle infrastructures since the 1930s; participated in the transnational debate over road safety and infrastructural designs in World Road Association (PIARC); and exported its national bicycle planning (Masterplan Fiets) and Bicycle Design Manual since the 1990s. Still, national cycling policies have gone in and out of fashion over the course of a century. National politics and local practices have routinely clashed, while local urban cycling policies have varied greatly. The PhD research focuses on the institutional and political history of national cycling policy in relation to cities in a transnational context to understand the Netherlands’ historical position as a bicycle nation.

Research questions:
- How has the national cycling policy developed institutionally and politically over the last century in relation to urban contexts?- What characterizes Dutch cycling policy and practice considered in a transnational context?

PhD 2: Post-War Cycling & Governance in a Global Perspective

The administrative place of cycling in the country’s governance structure has been either ignored or contested. No cohesive long-term national policy has emerged. There is urgency over the appropriate level of cycling governance. Urban, provincial, and national governmental agencies and non-governmental actors (tourist organization ANWB and Cyclists’ Union Fietsersbond) have played their role in changing configurations. The challenge of Dutch cycling governance is both globally unique and similar. Research thus far has focused on cities and non-governmental stakeholders. This project explores the interaction between the various governmental and non-governmental actors in the post-World War II era through historically relevant case studies that impact today’s decision making in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (I&M) from a multi-level governance and global perspective.

Research questions:
- How has national (bicycle) policy and practice clashed with provincial and local politics in the post-World War II era?- How should bicycle policy be embedded in terms of governance to be sustainable and successful?

- B. New Mobility Concepts and Social Embedding: PhD no. 3 and 4

There are three major bicycle systems (traditional, e-bike, pedelec) that potentially extend cycling’s action radius of cycling as both as a mono- and multi-modal functionality in the mobility chain. Each bicycle system has different introduction and upscaling trajectories linked to ICT with the potential for connected bikes. The two PhD projects will examine introduction strategies; social costs-benefits; and the (non) exchangeability of the three systems from a comparative urban perspective to include European, U.S., and Chinese case studies.

PhD 3: New mobility concepts in comparison: Bike-Train-Biking, E-bikes, & Pedelecs

The current development of at least three bicycle systems (Bike-train-bike share; E-bikes, and Pedelecs) challenge social and spatial arrangements. The first involves a bottom-up, but largely ignored system developed since the 1980s: the private bicycle-train-public share bike system, which fifty percent of all Dutch train travelers mobilize for their daily commute. Second, and more recently, e-biking is gaining in popularity next to traditional local cycling and operates in both mono- and multimodal contexts. Third, pedelecs are developing. All three systems challenge traditional traffic modeling within the modal split. Each system demands its introduction and expansion trajectory combined with its own ICT applications. These trajectories involve ethical aspects like the system’s safety in relation to user groups; the extent to which the systems generate or impede sustainability; the way cycling technology is positioned; and the challenges when introducing connected biking.

The PhD project compares and contrasts implementation strategies; social costs and benefits; and the exchanges and exclusion of the three systems. The PhD research focuses on the social embedding of the three bicycle systems (private bicycle-train-public bicycle; e-bike; and pedelec), which are developing next to local utility cycling. The PhD research explores all aspects around e-bikes, involving their social and ethical costs and benefits. While e-bikes are gaining popularity in several countries, their social embedding and acceptance differs substantially from a useful “range extender” for traditional cycling to a relatively problematic somewhat anarchistic vehicle that defies social norms.

Research questions:
- How do three bicycle systems (Bicycle-train-bicycle; E-bikes, Pedelecs) compare in terms of infrastructures, users practices, spatial extension effects, and their interrelations? - What are the state of the art, growth potential, and social embedding of e-bikes in the Netherlands from a global perspective in comparison to existing cycling regimes and to possible competitors like motor bikes and scooters in the Netherlands as well as in Western Europe and China?

PhD 4: Urban Cycling as Connecting Mobility Service

This PhD trajectory focuses on the role of cycling in the renewal of urban mobility systems. Cities all over the world are looking for new forms of mobility to deal with a plethora of problems. In response topeople’s need for efficient and seamless mobility, a great variety of new mobility forms and arrangements are emerging in urban regions, in particular linked to the development of the sharing economy. They range from bus-system innovations in cities of Latin America through cycling alternatives in Chinese cities, to car and public-transit innovations like public-bike systems and Uber. To provide a door-to-door transit experience and truly contribute to solving some of the major city challenges, rather than being “stand-alone”, however, such shared systems need to be integrated in existing automobility arrangements to be successful.

This PhD project focuses on mapping cycling-based mobility services and the business models they embed. By unpacking the value creation of the different services, the project aims to explore the potential of these arrangements in connecting to other modes of transport. The project explores the variety of the cycling-based mobility services in the Netherlands; the types of business models they embed; and the value they create for different stakeholders. It explores how the services compare with similar initiatives in European and Chinese cities; the potential of the services to connect to other private modes of transport; and the organizational and policy perspectives on implementing such connected mobility services.

Research questions:
- What is the role of cycling-based mobility services in the transition of urban mobility systems in The Netherlands?- How do cycling-based mobility services interact with the range of sharing mobility solutions that are currently developing in a global context?

For PhDs 1 & 2, we are looking for a highly motivated candidate with a Master’s degree in history, political science, public administration, urban planning and design or equivalent study profile that entails a thorough understanding of policy dynamics from a historical perspective and skill in archival and qualitative methods.

For PhDs 3 & 4, we are looking for a highly motivated candidate with a Master’s degree in human geography, traffic planning, political science, or equivalent study profile that combines spatial and governance studies.

In addition, the ideal candidate also has:
- independent and well-structured working style;- interest in supervising master students;- strong communication skills and ability to participate in a multidisciplinary team;- excellent knowledge of the English language, both in speaking and writing;- excellent knowledge of the Dutch language, and/or a willingness to learn Dutch (C1 level).

Redaktion
Veröffentlicht am
Beiträger
Klassifikation
Region(en)
Weitere Informationen
Land Veranstaltung
Arbeitssprache(n)
Englisch
Sprache