Difusion of cycling policy in the city of São Paulo: resistance, support and the role of the media

Abstract

São Paulo is a megalopolis with a pattern of occupation marked by the prominence of the automobile. However, recently, the urban mobility agenda gained new meaning and new actors were mobilized. From the post-positivist and diffusion theoretical perspectives of public policies, the present work discusses how the idea of the cycling policy arose, adapted and faced resistance in the political and social context of the municipality of São Paulo under Fernando Haddad’s government (Workers’ Party). As a result of the research, on one hand, the role of the political and epistemic community of the cycling-activists and the entrepreneurial role of Mayor Haddad as elements of political support stand out. On the other hand, the São Paulo press played an oppositional role in the implementation of the policy, acting as a political actor in the subsystem of the cycling policy, by systematically attacking the image of the infrastructures implemented for the bicycles.

Keywords:
public policies; policy diffusion; urban mobility; press.