The episode in detail
The geographic reversal of cycling in the Paris region
Clément Dusong, who holds a PhD in spatial planning and urbanism, examined 44 years of mobility surveys in the Paris region (from 1976 to 2010) for his thesis. His main finding: cycling patterns in the city and the suburbs have completely reversed. In 1976, residents of central Paris cycled the least. The further out from the centre, the more people cycled. Today, it’s the exact opposite.
“We saw a mirror-image shift, with the curves crossing over during the 1990s.”
This centre-periphery reversal isn’t limited to Paris. Clément and his colleagues observe the same dynamics in other French urban areas, and even in North American cities such as Portland and Montreal.
The cyclists of the 1970s bear no resemblance to today’s
The social makeup of cyclists has changed completely. In the 1970s, cyclists in the outer suburbs were mobility-captive: young people, students, the unemployed, housewives, retirees, and people from working-class backgrounds with no access to a car or an efficient public transport network.
Today, Parisian cyclists tend to be working professionals aged 25 to 55, in managerial and intellectual occupations, a profile consistent with the gentrification of city centres. Cycling has shifted from a mobility of necessity to a mobility of choice, an urban lifestyle.
Cycling in Paris in the 1970s: an act of bravery
Interviews Clément conducted with Parisian cyclists from that era reveal a climate of road violence far worse than today’s. Motorists openly believed cyclists had no place on the road.
“People told them outright: you have no right to ride here, you have no business being here. That was clearly false, but it’s what people thought.”
In the suburbs, even over short distances, cycling’s share collapsed. Clément points to urban barriers, the danger posed by motorised traffic, and shifting social perceptions of cycling as explanatory factors.
The suburban cycling revival predates Covid
The 2010 survey already showed a recovery in cycling in the inner and outer suburbs of the Paris region. The low point came in the mid-2000s. Growth was stronger in the inner suburbs than in the outer ring, following the centre-periphery gradient.
“Covid made visible and accelerated dynamics that were already under way. It’s a long-term trend.”
The launch of Vélib’ in 2007, cycling infrastructure, and the growing organisation of associations (such as the Vélo Île-de-France collective, founded in 2019) had already set the trend in motion. Covid amplified it.
Three drivers behind cycling’s spread to the suburbs
Clément identifies three main groups of factors. First, public policy: intercommunal bodies and départements spread cycling infrastructure know-how from one municipality to the next. Second, grassroots action: associations form one after another, often driven by volunteers who have moved and recreate in their new municipality what they knew elsewhere.
Third, residential mobility: when Parisians accustomed to cycling move to the suburbs, they bring their habits, their expectations of public space, and sometimes their involvement in associations. This is visible in Aubervilliers, where cyclists from gentrification (electric bikes, child seats, rides along the canal) coexist with workers from the Chinese diaspora (makeshift bikes, early-morning hours, textile warehouses).
“Cycling habits mix together in the suburbs. The diversity of cyclists shouldn’t be made invisible.”
A pattern of diffusion seen elsewhere
In Strasbourg, where the cycling revival in the city centre is as old as in Paris, growth in the inner suburbs is already visible while the centre has plateaued. In Toulouse, the analysis is under way. In coastal towns (Loire-Atlantique), the pattern follows a coast-to-inland logic rather than centre-periphery. The phenomenon extends beyond France: Portland and Montreal show the same dynamics of cycling’s return from the city centre.
