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Robb Montgomery

By Robb Montgomery – Visual Media Anthropologist & Journalist-Filmmaker

Introduction: Bicycles as Urban Culture

Berlin’s bicycle culture is a dynamic thread in the fabric of its urban identity, shaped by an interplay between policy, activism, everyday community practices, and individual choices. This virtual exhibit combines contemporary research, immersive media, and the lived stories of Berliners to highlight the evolving significance of cycling in the city’s life.

Proof-of-Concept: DIY Digital Heritage

Bikegeist serves as a research proof-of-concept and prototype produced with a zero euro budget using only free and open-source tools. All 3D models were captured using the Polycam app on iPhone. The virtual marketplace was designed entirely in Blender, and the interactive exhibit is hosted on Sketchfab.

The project foregrounds the voices and experiences of Berliners, with a strong focus on women protagonists, each sharing a distinctive and personal message about mobility, community, and creativity.

This process demonstrates that meaningful digital curation and storytelling can be accessible to grassroots researchers, educators, and advocates, even without institutional funding.

The Bikegeist Project is an innovative digital heritage initiative that documents and celebrates Berlin’s rich bicycle culture through an interactive online museum, using immersive 3D scans and personal narratives to preserve cycling artifacts, urban spaces, and stories for future generations and global audiences

3D Museum Tour

Dive into the virtual museum using a mouse, touchscreen, or VR headset. Every visitor can freely investigate digital artifacts and narratives, breaking the boundaries of conventional museums.

Bikegeist – Market Scene

Visit the guided tour

1. Click on the play triangle to open the exhibit.
2. Click on the Settings gear icon and select “HD.
arows icon
3. Click or tap on the Full Screen Arrows icon to maximize the view.
4. Tap the Caption bar to step through the objects in the collection.

The multimedia gallery offers a window into Berliners’ inventive relationships with their bikes:

  • Sandra rides to the Berlin Art Market, running her shop from a cargo bike—her story reveals how cycling enables creative entrepreneurship and independent living.
  • Johanna Rüdiger, a Deutsche Welle journalist, utilizes her city bike to produce mobile video reports for TikTok, illustrating how cycling supports urban journalism and quick content production.

  • Antonia Moschin from Berlin’s Department of Mobility speaks on expanding public bike repair stations, reinforcing how accessibility and infrastructure empower diverse cycling communities.

    These stories intentionally foreground women, amplifying underrepresented voices in urban mobility narratives.

    3D Collection: Berlin’s Cycling Artifacts

    Using Polycam and Blender, a range of bike-related artifacts—from cargo bikes and repair stands to activist banners—have been captured in high-resolution 3D. The online catalog at Polycam provides open access to these material culture objects.

    3D models used in the Bikegeist exhibition

    3D scans are not mere digital replicas; they are interactive tools for research, education, and advocacy. Scholars can analyze cultural context, teachers can enrich curricula, and policy advocates can visualize gaps and potentials in infrastructure.

    See the Further Reading section for how digital curation is transforming heritage preservation.

    Urban Mobility in Action: Case Studies

    The Friedrichstrasse Experiment

    In August 2020, Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse was transformed as part of a public experiment to prioritize bicycles and pedestrians over cars on a 500-meter stretch. This initiative—which ignited national debate about urban mobility, equity, and public space—can be explored in depth through our video resources.

    More on Friedrichstrasse Experiment

    Bike Repair Stations & Infrastructure

    Berlin rolled out public bike repair stations citywide in late 2024. An official interactive map details their locations and provides up-to-date infrastructure status:
    See the repair station map.

    The city’s cycling framework also includes over 2,300 km of dedicated routes and a nearly 18% modal share for cycling, a figure that continues to rise as Berlin pursues sustainable transportation strategies (Berlin Senate Department for Urban Mobility and Transport).

    VeloFlow LED Displays: Smoother Urban Cycling

    Several Berlin streets feature VeloFlow LED displays, which advise cyclists on speed to catch green lights and reduce red-light violations. Similar systems in Münster have already shown positive outcomes (Semantics Scholar study).

    This photo gallery provides a glimpse of the variety of Berlin bike culture.

    Bike taxi along the Spree
    Public air pump being used by a man in Berlin
    An athletic coach uses a public air pump provided by the city
    Delivery drivers are in constant motion
    A city bike modified by a local musician for pop-up concerts at festivals
    This Berlin chimney sweep cruises to jobs wearing his traditional uniform and top hat while riding a DIY-customized e-bike.

    Critical Perspectives & Methodology

    Bikegeist adopts a material culture research lens, asking: What do the artifacts of cycling in Berlin reveal about contemporary urban culture and social values?

    The project acknowledges the limitations of scope and disciplinary perspective, and welcomes critique. While the exhibit draws on an array of narratives, further inclusion of marginalized and diverse voices is a goal for future iterations.

    Methodology

    • Objects were selected to represent both everyday cycling and activist practices.
    • 3D modeling prioritized accessibility and durability of digital heritage.
    • Only free apps and platforms were used—ensuring an open, replicable process.
    • Stories center on women to counterbalance the frequent male-dominated narratives in cycling culture (GRURInt article).

    How the immersive 3D exhibit was made

    Digital curation, like all heritage work, is shaped by access, ethics, and available technology. For more on these issues, see Lombardi’s work on sustainable 3D heritage data.

    Further Reading & Resources

    For additional references on cycling policy and statistics, see the WHO/UNECE report on walking and cycling.

    Contact the researcher