The University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) co-hosted a screening of a documentary series on Feb. 23 about the importance of community efforts for more sustainable transportation systems.
The series, titled “Community Power,” consisted of five short films, featuring communities in Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, Indiana and Minnesota. Each community comes together to raise awareness about greener transportation modes.
Kyle Shelton, director of CTS, said each film showcased the diverse ways people think and interact with transportation in their area.
The Redford Center, a film production nonprofit with a particular focus on the environment, and MindTwist Studio, a video production company based in the Twin Cities, produced the Minnesota documentary in the series.
Jill Tidman, the Redford Center’s executive director, said in a statement that the environment is the organization’s mission and film is their medium to raise awareness.
“We are thrilled that the ‘Community Power’ series can be a vehicle to ignite dialogue on these timely topics,” Tidman said.
The documentary features the research of Yingling Fan, an urban and regional planning professor at the University.
Fan’s research, which began in 2009, analyzes people’s emotional experiences and happiness while using public streets and transportation. The concept, which she pioneered, is called “transportation happiness.”
The short film highlights a core part of Fan’s research called the “Transportation Happiness Map.” The map illustrates the differences in people’s happiness ratings while taking different travel routes throughout their day.
For the map, data was collected from 400 Twin Cities residents through the use of a mobile application Fan and her team developed. App users recorded the trips they made throughout the day and their level of happiness during the commute, according to Fan.
In the documentary, Fan said if cities want cleaner transportation to be successful, citizens need to report happiness while using those modes.
After the screening, Shelton moderated a panel of three government representatives and Fan to discuss the film and sustainable transportation within communities. The representatives were Mariia Zimmerman, a strategic advisor for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Emily Smoak, a planner with the Minnesota Department of Health, and Margaret Anderson Kelliher, a Minneapolis public works director.
When making the film, Sebastian Schnabel, a co-owner of MindTwist Studio and the director of the documentary, wanted the film to emphasize the community aspect of transportation and sustainability. To accomplish this, the studio interviewed actual commuters who use Twin Cities transportation.
Both Schnabel and Cici Yixuan Wu, the other co-owner of MindTwist Studio and producer of the documentary, see their films as conversation starters.
“As an artist and as a filmmaker, I can make a film about it, and I can therefore start a conversation or therefore show a different point of view, and I think that way you are able to actually do something,” Schnabel said.
Wu said she wants the film to challenge the audience to think differently about transportation and to reject the notion that cars are the only way. She said this documentary can spark these difficult discussions.
“We think a lot of challenging conversations through the power of storytelling can be a little bit easier for people,” Wu said. “Like, after watching a film, then they can talk about it or think about and reflect.”
Fan said it is important for people to engage with these topics because, not only will it impact the future, but transportation is a central aspect of people’s lives and communities.
“We want to make sure that not only our lives are livable, our environments are livable, but whatever we do with our environment is not going to negatively impact the future generations,” Fan said.
