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Behind a bicycling boom: Governance, cultural change and place character in Memphis, Tennessee

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Listed:
  • Kevin T Smiley

    (Rice University, USA)

  • Wanda Rushing

    (University of Memphis, USA)

  • Michele Scott

    (North Carolina State University, USA)

Abstract

Drawing on theories of place, new political cultures, and idio-cultural perceptions, this paper examines the case of recent place character change in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2009, a burgeoning bicycling culture has taken root in the city alongside a massive increase in bicycling infrastructure. We analyse how these changes are paralleled by shifts in governance emphasising amenity-based urbanism that favours themes of creative class-centred economic development. Changes also highlight the ability of contemporary urban governance to make place malleable by upending negative conceptions of the city and providing for new alternatives. Implications centre on how place may be more malleable than previously theorised, but recognise that changes serve only some populations, namely creatives and pre-existing power structures, while maintaining traditions that exclude others and contribute to racialised gentrification.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin T Smiley & Wanda Rushing & Michele Scott, 2016. "Behind a bicycling boom: Governance, cultural change and place character in Memphis, Tennessee," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(1), pages 193-209, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:53:y:2016:i:1:p:193-209
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098014556590
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    References listed on IDEAS

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