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Evidence, alliances and technical co-production: shaping early niche–regime interactions through grassroots cycling associations in Brazil

Cauê Martins Rios et al.

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2026.101129article
ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

• Cycling activist initiatives build leadership and routines that sustain credibility across political cycles. • Professionalised activist associations gain access to urban transport planning processes, but they also face new bureaucratic demands. • Data functions as a pedagogical tool, making cycling patterns legible—and harder to ignore. • Alliances with universities and civil society groups translate activism into policy influence. • Upscaling illustrates how niches begin to interact with regimes through evidence, coalitions, and guarded engagement. Pro-cycling associations in Brazil offer a new perspective on how social innovations emerge within car-dependent mobility regimes. This paper examines how internal organisational capacities and wider governance conditions shape the upscaling of cycling-related practices and values promoted by six activist associations in Brazilian cities. The study reveals that early niche consolidation relied on seven mechanisms and scope conditions: shared and diversified leadership; professionalisation and efforts to broaden representation; evidence-driven advocacy; coalition brokering; technical co-production with insiders; and guarded engagement in volatile political settings. These mechanisms refine and nuance our understanding of early niche–regime interaction in the Global South by highlighting how "protected spaces" are actively constructed through organisational routines, translocal learning and the work of making cyclists legible within planning and regulatory arenas.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2026.101129

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@article{cauê2026,
  title        = {{Evidence, alliances and technical co-production: shaping early niche–regime interactions through grassroots cycling associations in Brazil}},
  author       = {Cauê Martins Rios et al.},
  journal      = {Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2026.101129},
}

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Evidence, alliances and technical co-production: shaping early niche–regime interactions through grassroots cycling associations in Brazil

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.