Comment décrire les infrastructures de vélo en libre-service ? La mise en oeuvre controversée du dispositif Vélib' parisien

http://www.csi.mines-paristech.fr/Items/WorkingPapers/Download/DLWP.php?wp=WP_CSI_022.pdfLe texte correspond à une étude de terrain encore en cours, s'attachant à la description des débuts du projet Vélib', en s'appuyant sur un travail d'archives et d'entretiens. Son intérêt consiste, en particulier, à restituer les controverses qu'a fait naître le modèle économique/urbain du projet Vélib' au moment de sa conception

Repairing and maintaining a public bicycle system: the case of Vélib' in Paris

Alternative title of this chapter : Repair and Maintenance of a Public Bicycle System: a Pragmatic Approach to the case of Velib in the City of ParisValued for its 'planet friendly' character, these systems have become the hallmark for cities that want to become part of the so-called 'green culture'. The Vélib' program is the largest system of its kind in the world, with 1800 stations and 20600 bikes. This paper intends to analyze the Vélib' system by considering an often ignored, but essential dimension on the subject: the invisible work, which about 400 agents realize on a daily basis to maintain the functioning of this sustainable mobility program. This presentation will analyse the plurality of operations through which the Vélib' system is updated 24 hours a day. It does so by drawing on interviews and ethnographic observations made in a repair workshop, as well as observations made through accompanying technicians in the field. Through the description of the knowledge and the know-how mobilized by agents, I will show how these actors, through their daily contact with the city and users, become real "sociologists" of mobility and of the users. The urban ecology appears to the maintenance agents as a real field of exploration and experiment, a space inhabited by uncertainty, which the agents have to repair and maintain by a diversity of instruments and practice

Construyendo infraestructuras para la movilidad: el caso del sistema de bicicletas en libre servicio de París

Ciudad sustentable, nuevas tecnologías, movilidad. Éstas, entre otras, son las referencias que se suelen utilizar para designar el fenómeno de globalización de los sistemas de bicicletas en libre servicio (BLS) Valorados por su carácter amigable con el planeta, estos sistemas son hoy un must para las ciudades que desean inscribirse en la llamada "cultura verde". Tomando como referencia el programa Vélib' (París), me propongo problematizar nociones como 'ciudad sustentable' y 'movilidad', y describir el trabajo colectivo y siempre controversial necesario para elaborar y estabilizar una infraestructura como la de dicho programa. Busco describir los instrumentos, estrategias y desplazamientos (políticos, urbanos y técnicos) utilizados para la concepción del sistema de usuarios de BLS más extenso del mundo. En la primera parte del texto, de carácter ensayístico, describo cómo para cierta literatura el fenómeno de las bicicletas públicas es signo del renacer de las prácticas urbanas en las grandes metrópolis. A continuación, y con base en material empírico proveniente del estudio de caso del sistema BLS de París, analizo dos controversias que permiten situar, desde un enfoque pragmático, el estudio de estas infraestructuras de movilidadSustainable city, new technologies, mobility. These, among others, are some of the terms commonly used to refer to the globalization of the self-service bicycle programmes. Valued for its 'planet friendly' character, these systems have become the hallmark for cities that want to become part of the so-called 'green culture'. Drawing from the experience of the Vélib' program in Paris, this essay problematizes the notions of sustainable city and mobility and describes the collective and controversial work needed to elaborate and stabilize this infrastructure. This essay describes the instruments, strategies and movements (political, urban and technical) used in the conception of this system. The first part of the text describes how the system of public bicycles is conceived as a symbol of the rebirth of urban practices in a big contemporary metropolis. The second part draws on empirical material from a case study of a self-service bicycle system in Paris and analyses two controversies at the beginning of the project. These controversies, which will be analysed from a pragmatic perspective, will allow us to move beyond the common, culturalist way of conceptualizing these infrastructure