Biking in Tokyo – Road or Sidewalk?

Biking in Tokyo: Cyclist Decision-Making at the Road–Sidewalk Divide

Collaborative project with Dr. Sihan Yang, Machizukuri Lab (UTokyo)

Description
Bicycles are the second most popular means of commuting in Tokyo, used for nearly 20% of commuting trips, yet only 1.6% of the road network provides dedicated cycling infrastructure. On narrow streets, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists often share the same limited space, since regulations around cycling are flexible and infrastructure uneven. This creates a unique urban environment where cyclists must make split-second choices between riding on the road or the sidewalk.

Research Questions
This project asks: What factors influence cyclists’ decisions when choosing between road and sidewalk in Tokyo? How do perception, memory, instinct, cultural background, and lived experience shape these choices?

Methodology
Most existing cycling studies focus on European contexts, motorists, or quantitative traffic modeling. In contrast, this project takes a qualitative, multi-sensory approach in a non-Western setting, investigating:

• The role of emotion and experience in cycling decisions.

• How cyclists perceive traffic, space, and safety in a dense urban environment.

• How personal and cultural factors (e.g., accident history, driving background, urban familiarity) shape decision-making.

Significance
By situating Tokyo’s cyclists within broader debates on urban mobility, the project addresses gaps in cycling research: limited focus on non-Western contexts, few studies on intersections, and a lack of qualitative, multi-sensory perspectives. This work highlights the importance of understanding perception and emotion in mobility choices, not only infrastructure and rules.

The research is currently being developed into a co-authored paper with Dr. Yang Sihan (Machizukuri Lab, University of Tokyo).

Tags
Urban Mobility · Cycling Behavior · Qualitative Research