The Struggles of Super Cycle Highways: an explorative study into political prioritization of bicycle planning in the Copenhagen area

Abstract

Cycling is increasingly seen as a way of making cities more sustainable and liveable. Copenhagen has reached high cycling standards through prioritization of cycling infrastructure. However, a further increase requires current car commuters to take the bike, for which the Super Cycle Highways (SCH) concept, a network of regional cycling routes, was created. Despite initial promising results, a downturn in national funding has halted further development, showing that SCHs are not sufficiently institutionalized. This study investigates why SCHs are struggling to be prioritized in the Copenhagen area. A recent integration of transitions and institutional work literatures is used as a theoretical foundation. To deal with this ‘real-time’ and highly political case, this study develops a novel conceptual framework through an iterative grounded theory approach. The analysis shows that prioritization of cycling requires strategic work aimed at: introducing novel rationales (e.g. liveability) as a basis for common goals, which through binding agreement are used to prioritize cycling; and framing cycling as positive in terms of dominant financial practices. Institutional structures that create common goals and binding agreement are limited to municipalities – prioritization of SCHs seems hindered by a lack of a regional authority that can match the regional scope of congestion with a regional institutional structure.