(Not) On Your Bike

How Urban Laos Doesn’t Move

Authors

• Phill Wilcox Bielefeld University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1617-6938

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.129292

Abstract

Laos is a country of seven million people in Southeast Asia, with its largest urban centre having a population of just under one million people. At a time of rising inflation and growing awareness of climate change, this article investigates how urban residents travel, why people do and do not cycle in urban Laos, and how cycling is promoted and crucially, by whom. Drawing on interviews, survey data, and other participant observation, this paper notes that the number of bikes in Laos is increasing, and cycling for fitness is becoming more widespread, which can be linked to aspiration and conspicuous consumption, but that promotion of cycling is driven largely by outsiders as part of broader attempts to develop Laos according to their own agendas. This is demonstrated by a European Union campaign which encouraged people to commute by bike, which was largely unsuccessful in Laos.

Keywords: cycling, Laos, mobilities, development, infrastructure, commuting