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Paper long abstract

Critical Mass is a worldwide urban movement which has developed along the last two decades as a promotion of bicycle in cities. Its most frequent public expression is through spontaneous meetings of cyclists once per month in such a manner that the motorized flow is interrupted. What is striking about it is that any of those meetings requires a specific social organization and adaptation to the particular characteristics of the city. Hence, the straight proposal of these activists in favor of sustainable urban mobility must deal with particular social and urban issues. Our research is focused on the city of Madrid, one of the Spanish cities where this collective action is the best known and the most crowded (average of 1,500 cyclists every call). Every meeting gathers a wide diverse range of people who daily use bicycle and now have a regular date where to interact, have fun, reshape their meanings about urban space, and manifest their demands for a more bicycle-friendly city.