This paper explores ideas of mobility and power using the case study Pedalpower for Bybrua, commissioned for ‘Stavanger 2008’ – Capital of Culture. Three pedal powered generators were made available to the community of Pedersgata - during daylight hours these devices were located in a number of public sites and situations - during nighttime, the stored energy was released as part of a pedestrian lighting system installed beneath the City Road Bridge ‘Bybrua’. This paper will focus on the only mobile generator; Bridgit – so called for it’s capacity to offer transit from one side of the bridge to the other.
In an oil rich nation what would it mean to introduce more modest forms of energy production? How would the installation of a human powered lighting system change the way people perceived the underpass space? How might ‘human power’ change human behavior? What might the social, economic and environmental benefits be?

This project demonstrates a number of practical interventions inspired by the critical writings of Ivan Illich and Henri Lefebvre. These sculptural devices allow the problems of contemporary mobility to be seen as generative opportunities – both in terms of dialogue and energy.

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