Deconstructing accessibility – discursive barriers for increased cycling in Sweden

Society’s planning for and dependence on automobility has created several major problems and calls for a shift away from car-based mobility are proliferating. There is a growing recognition of the positive effects of cycling and modal shares for cycling are on the rise in cities. Nevertheless, bicycling is still marginalised in national transport policies. In Sweden, cycling shares are decreasing at a national level, and to steer towards increased cycling, a policy shift is needed. We adopt a post-structuralist view and consider a policy shift to be a discursive shift. With the help of Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, the paper depicts the position of cycling in Swedish national transport policy. As accessibility is a key concept in national transport policy and planning, we consider the meaning bestowed upon this concept paramount with regard to the marginalisation of cycling at the national level. The lack of decisiveness in national bicycle policy can be traced back to a suppression of certain meanings of accessibility. This calls for a reinterpretation of accessibility and a revaluation of the national responsibility for cycling. The framing of cycling as a local and primarily urban issue hampers the pro-activity of the national government regarding cycling.