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Cycling

London’s Cycling Revolution

cyclerevmap

Above is part of a graphic created to highlight the dramatic changes in London’s non-casual cycling population. It is a map showing the proportion of people that travel to work by bicycle (compared to the overall population that travels to work) – each of London’s 620-odd wards being coloured by the resulting value, that comes from the 2011 census. QGIS was used to produce the map, the colour ramp used is a “fire” one, with the highest values corresponding to “white hot” colours, then cooling through orange and red for lower values. Yellow dots show the current (pre-December 2013) extent of the Barclays Cycle Hire system, which is revealingly at odds with where the cyclists actually are.

As a keen cyclist myself, it’s fascinating seeing how Hackney is “lit up” in the map, and also how barriers such as the North Circular Road and the Lea Valley act, apparently both physically and psychologically, to stop cyclists commuting across them. Outwith these constraints, traditionally affluent south-west London boroughs have combined with “hipster central” new-wealth north-east boroughs of Hackney and Islington to create an “axis of cycle commuting” across the capital city. The northern parts of Tower Hamlets, and the eastern parts of Camden, are also starting to turn red, as the Hackney cycling cultural influence slowly spreads. Herne Hill stands out in south London as being a popular cycling location, perhaps inspired by the legacy of the Herne Hill Velodrome (from the 1948 Olympics) living on. Highgate is also another hotspot. Perhaps people commute down its famous steep hills to work in central London, and then take the bike back home on the train?

The full graphic also includes a table listing the top 100 areas (wards) for the main measure. The numbers on the map correspond to the top 20 wards in this table – striking to see how many of them are in Hackney borough. The data came from the UK Census 2011 ward-aggregated data releases made earlier this year by the Official of National Statistics.

You can see the full graphic here which includes a number of “headline numbers” I haven’t mentioned here. I’ve listed the 100 wards from the graphic’s table below for convenience.

The “Total Num” is the population (aged 16-74) that travels to work, so not including those that work from home, are students, or don’t work. “Num by bicycle” is the subset of this population that use a bicycle as their primary means of commuting to work.

Rank Ward Borough Total Num Num by bicycle % by bicycle
1 Clissold Hackney 5988 1226 20.5%
2 Stoke Newington Central Hackney 6269 1274 20.3%
3 Queensbridge Hackney 6154 1235 20.1%
4 Dalston Hackney 7199 1395 19.4%
5 Hackney Downs Hackney 5636 1040 18.5%
6 Hackney Central Hackney 5663 993 17.5%
7 Victoria Hackney 5702 955 16.8%
8 Leabridge Hackney 5946 991 16.7%
9 Wick Hackney 4540 695 15.3%
10 Chatham Hackney 5445 829 15.2%
11 De Beauvoir Hackney 6765 1009 14.9%
12 Lordship Hackney 4620 675 14.6%
13 Mildmay Islington 5968 830 13.9%
14 King’s Park Hackney 3910 542 13.9%
15 Highbury East Islington 5765 795 13.8%
16 Highgate Camden 4538 607 13.4%
17 Bethnal Green North Tower Hamlets 6027 805 13.4%
18 Cazenove Hackney 5221 689 13.2%
19 Herne Hill Lambeth 7751 1017 13.1%
20 Haggerston Hackney 6564 837 12.8%
21 Weavers Tower Hamlets 6087 776 12.8%
22 St George’s Islington 5751 703 12.2%
23 Cantelowes Camden 5127 615 12.0%
24 Kentish Town Camden 6385 744 11.7%
25 Bow West Tower Hamlets 5863 671 11.4%
26 Village Southwark 5608 635 11.3%
27 Brownswood Hackney 5889 660 11.2%
28 Palace Riverside Hammersmith and Fulham 3285 357 10.9%
29 Hoxton Hackney 6844 737 10.8%
30 Highbury West Islington 8127 871 10.7%
31 Brunswick Park Southwark 5977 637 10.7%
32 Brixton Hill Lambeth 8544 910 10.7%
33 The Lane Southwark 7025 740 10.5%
34 Barnsbury Islington 5771 600 10.4%
35 St Peter’s Islington 5799 601 10.4%
36 St Mary’s Park Wandsworth 8833 913 10.3%
37 Wandsworth Common Wandsworth 7133 726 10.2%
38 Tollington Islington 6239 628 10.1%
39 Tulse Hill Lambeth 7544 757 10.0%
40 Junction Islington 5567 558 10.0%
41 Vassall Lambeth 6700 660 9.9%
42 Camden Town with Primrose Hill Camden 5546 543 9.8%
43 Bow East Tower Hamlets 7244 707 9.8%
44 Stroud Green Haringey 6252 609 9.7%
45 Gospel Oak Camden 4540 442 9.7%
46 Peckham Rye Southwark 6669 642 9.6%
47 Shaftesbury Wandsworth 8703 837 9.6%
48 Mortlake and Barnes Common Richmond upon Thames 5159 495 9.6%
49 East Dulwich Southwark 6536 624 9.6%
50 Oval Lambeth 8270 789 9.5%
51 Northcote Wandsworth 8532 811 9.5%
52 Canonbury Islington 5704 541 9.5%
53 St Mary’s Islington 5967 563 9.4%
54 Clapham Common Lambeth 7380 695 9.4%
55 Prince’s Lambeth 6938 650 9.4%
56 Askew Hammersmith and Fulham 7020 656 9.3%
57 Thamesfield Wandsworth 8505 791 9.3%
58 South Camberwell Southwark 5982 553 9.2%
59 Holloway Islington 6869 633 9.2%
60 Munster Hammersmith and Fulham 5953 548 9.2%
61 Mile End and Globe Town Tower Hamlets 5856 537 9.2%
62 East Sheen Richmond upon Thames 4425 404 9.1%
63 Ravenscourt Park Hammersmith and Fulham 4917 448 9.1%
64 Clapham Town Lambeth 7986 724 9.1%
65 Queenstown Wandsworth 8944 810 9.1%
66 Newington Southwark 6546 589 9.0%
67 Nightingale Wandsworth 8062 721 8.9%
68 Stockwell Lambeth 7367 658 8.9%
69 Barnes Richmond upon Thames 4146 370 8.9%
70 Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside Richmond upon Thames 4195 373 8.9%
71 Thurlow Park Lambeth 6497 574 8.8%
72 Clerkenwell Islington 5188 455 8.8%
73 Caledonian Islington 5935 518 8.7%
74 Finsbury Park Islington 6373 548 8.6%
75 Crouch End Haringey 6647 567 8.5%
76 Fulham Reach Hammersmith and Fulham 5892 497 8.4%
77 Thornton Lambeth 6235 525 8.4%
78 Balham Wandsworth 8660 729 8.4%
79 Fulham Broadway Hammersmith and Fulham 5583 469 8.4%
80 Hillrise Islington 5077 426 8.4%
81 Ferndale Lambeth 8868 744 8.4%
82 Larkhall Lambeth 9197 771 8.4%
83 Shepherd’s Bush Green Hammersmith and Fulham 6244 521 8.3%
84 Sands End Hammersmith and Fulham 5947 489 8.2%
85 Coldharbour Lambeth 7267 597 8.2%
86 Colville Kensington and Chelsea 3896 318 8.2%
87 Addison Hammersmith and Fulham 6154 500 8.1%
88 Fairfield Wandsworth 9123 741 8.1%
89 Bethnal Green South Tower Hamlets 5471 443 8.1%
90 Notting Barns Kensington and Chelsea 3657 294 8.0%
91 Streatham Hill Lambeth 7180 577 8.0%
92 Chiswick Riverside Hounslow 5428 433 8.0%
93 Tudor Kingston upon Thames 4128 329 8.0%
94 Hammersmith Broadway Hammersmith and Fulham 5574 444 8.0%
95 Camberwell Green Southwark 6471 513 7.9%
96 Queens Park Brent 7598 600 7.9%
97 Haverstock Camden 4900 386 7.9%
98 Spitalfields and Banglatown Tower Hamlets 4619 362 7.8%
99 West Putney Wandsworth 6772 527 7.8%
100 Fulwell and Hampton Hill Richmond upon Thames 4747 369 7.8%

The graphic was produced in association with Mediarun and Bolt Burdon Kemp.

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