The Window to Science of the Pablo Olavide University in Seville shows, in one of its projects, what is the use of the bicycle in Andalusia
For public use, for fashion or to work, bicycles are a means of transport that not only benefit health and the environment, but also generate economic development. An affirmation that materializes in the Window to the Science of the Pablo Olavide University, of Seville, in which the visitors of the Park of the Sciences of Granada will be able to know until next the 7 of February how it is the use of the bicycle in Andalusia thanks to the scientific works of the Social Research and Participatory Action Group of the UPO.
Through applied social research techniques, this scientific team, led by teacher Macarena Hernández, has verified how there has not only been an increase in the use of bicycles in Andalusia, but also the user profile has been extended, it may be regarded by many as a “new consumer object”. Around 40% of Andalusians use this transport at some time and around 10.4% does it daily forms, being Andalusia the autonomous community where this datum has been higher.
The originality of this work is in the used techniques study by combining discussion groups, fieldwork and direct observation of user behavior with the bicycle, with the development of participatory forums. In this sense, Macarena Hernández, who is also one of the scientific directors of the Window with Javier Escalera and Esteban Ruiz, details that the work has been carried out for 15 months in 7 Andalusian provinces to extract results that will help develop measures for the intervention in public policies and that will be integrated into the Andalusian Plan for Bicycle, promoted by the Development and Housing Department.
To the traditional healthy and environmental values of the bicycle, Hernández also adds the tourist and the economic, since in many cities they constitute a source of income. In some Andalusian provinces such as Seville or Malaga where public bicycle systems are a success, a model that is displayed in the window, along with two others, fixie and “bicicargo”, through which it tries to show some models and emerging uses.
The Window also shows some of the recommendations developed by this scientific team of to increase the bicycles use in Andalusia. The creation of safe car parks in the main nodes and transport stations; the construction of bicycle roads; the design and development of information strategies about existing services; the promotion of bicycles uses in companies; facilitates access to bicycles and the development of work lines aimed to improving coexistence among users of different transport are some of the proposals presented by the scientific team.
Along with this line of research, they explain other projects on local-based tourism in which they are currently working and in which they investigate the main characteristics of this type of tourism, where the fundamental thing is the role played by the local societies where these experiences are developed., such as the preparation of proposals for management and decision making in these tourism processes. The exhibition is completed with a workshop to sensitize in society about the bicycles uses and the organization of a meeting in which they will present the results about the bicycle use that they have done in Granada.
The “Window to Science” program is an initiative of the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Junta de Andalucía, in collaboration with Andalusian universities to bring science to society by showing some of the I & D lines that are developed in Andalusia.