Practising change and changing practices: The ‘practicescape’ of utility cycling as modal ‘choice’ : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University

Abstract

This thesis offers a critical consideration of theories of social practice, or ‘practice theory’, as a theoretical and analytical framework for the promotion of shifts to sustainable practices. From a practice perspective, it is what people do, as socially and materially mediated practices, that lock in undesirable environmental impacts, such as climate change. Therefore, it is practices that must change – in particular, so that more favourable, sustainable practices are promoted over less desirable, less sustainable alternatives. This research applies these concepts to the promotion of utility cycling – cycling for transport – as an example of a desirable low-carbon personal mobility practice, with an interest in how its participation might be increased. Practice theoretical approaches place single moments of recognisable acting into a performative, recursive relationship with their wider context, meaning that individual performances of seemingly mundane everyday practices are set into dynamic relationship with a diverse array of elements, which may shape, and be shaped by, those performances. When considered in this way, utility cycling becomes far more than simply a ‘choice’ made by an individual. Instead, modal options are heavily prefigured by elements as diverse as bikes, roads, cycleways, weather, loads to be carried, norms, identity and daily scheduling, etc. However, the concept of a practice, as some kind of ‘entity’, remains somewhat elusive. While practices may readily enter the everyday vernacular, as a recognisable ‘way of doing something’, more precise analytical bounding of doing into some kind of entity can become problematic. The practice dynamic contains at its core a fundamental tension between some kind of recognisable activity – a verb – and the elements of its wider context – as nouns. Away from more formal examples of practices, a single, bounded, normative practice entity can become challenging to account for – and, as this research suggests, perhaps even inappropriate for the promotion of pre-existing alternative practices in mundane everyday settings. In this work, utility cycling was analysed from a practice perspective, as modal ‘choice’ through a diverse range of observations and data sources. These included street observations of cyclists, in-depth interviews with regular utility cyclists, observations and survey data from an extensive one-to-one travel planning exercise conducted in local office buildings, plus government travel data. The conduct of this research highlighted that investigation into practices cannot be considered independently of the research context. The empirical engagement with the research question made it clear that utility cycling was only relevant to this work in terms of modal ‘choice’ – i.e., somehow selecting between competing modal practices against a backdrop of other everyday practices. To this end, a ‘practicescape’ approach is proposed which provides a more generic application of practice theoretical principles without requiring an account of an intermediate practice entity. Especially suited to instrumental interventions where practice switching is the desired outcome, it identifies a central activity of interest relative to the research question and then places it into dynamic relationship with a wider practice landscape – a practicescape – comprising the stuff of practices, but not restricted to the delineation of any single practice. Concepts of a ‘utility horizon’ and a ‘utility envelope’ are introduced to provide an analytical framing and narrative sense making to the process. The aim of this approach is to introduce an analytical framework that is more practically and intuitively accessible to change-makers and policymakers who are deeply immersed within their own practicescapes of interest, but are not necessarily conversant with the more arcane mysteries of practice as a theoretical construct. This then offers a practice-compatible framework through which change may be practised through deep engagement with the practicescape containing the change.