The Advocate- Issue #42
Picture This!
By the time we reach a certain age, we stop believing in things like unicorns, fairies and the Easter Bunny. For most of us, we believe it when we see it. In the US and Canada, the story we’re told and which most of us have seen, is that streets are for cars. And most North Americans believe it. Why wouldn’t they? They’ve never seen streets in any other way. But increasingly, communication-savvy advocates are using the power of images and videos to shift paradigms and win converts. The digital era is creating new opportunities for showing people what streets can be – an often necessary step in changing our existing streets.
Streetfilms is a pioneer in getting images out to the public and to policy makers to show what is possible for streets to become. The organization locates inspiring examples of what cities are doing to open streets for people and promote biking and walking; they film it, then share the story as widely as possible. Because seeing is believing, these films are creating ripples in streetscapes around the world.
Streetfilms’ Ciclovia video was critical in engaging city leaders to start San Francisco’s Sunday Streets. According to Leah Shahum of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, “Showing the video to our Mayor was the next best thing to flying him to Bogota to witness the joys of ciclovia firsthand.” Cheryl Brinkman of Livable Streets was also involved in bringing Sunday Streets to San Francisco and calls Streetfilms’ videos their best marketing tool. “So many times at community meetings the images would lead people to talk about similar events, either seen in Europe while on vacation or living abroad or from their childhood and to say how great the idea of Sunday Streets was. Seeing the images brought good feelings to the surface, the memories of being happy, feeling friendly and having fun in the streets.”
Streetfilms started when Clarence Eckerson Jr., director of video production, made a 20-minute short The Case for a Car-Free Central Park which was presented to 700 people at a packed rally. According to Eckerson, “Not long after we got some action from the Department of Transportation (they closed some entrances to the park) and Mark Gorton (Streetfilms’ primary funder) seeing the power of film to convince people, hired me to start making similar short films.” Now over 250 Streetfilms have had over 2.5 million plays, have been viewed on six continents and have had public airings in 45 states.
Photovoice is another community-change tool that uses the power of images to trigger decision makers to act. The Kaiser Permanente program piloted in Park Hill, Colorado in 2006; local residents were given cameras and sent out into the community to document the barriers to active living and healthy eating. Their photos were then blown up and presented to local decision makers at an invitation-only showing. One photo depicting an under-utilized park was used to leverage a city bond to renovate the park. According to Michele Wheeler of the Northeast Park Hill Coalition, “We’d been trying to do something for years in this neighborhood and nothing ever got done. We talked with city leaders and had meeting after meeting, and Photovoice was the first thing that brought results to fruition.”
Pictures are powerful advocacy tools, both to show the barriers to biking and walking, and to show the types of streets that are possible. Images help people imagine a new story around streets, one filled with kids biking, old people walking and young couples strolling. These streets are filled with games, laughter and smiles. Seeing these sorts of streets, why wouldn’t people believe in them and why wouldn’t they want their streets to be like that?
Streetfilms: www.streetfilms.org Get your cameras out! www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/photocontest
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Published in Momentum No. 42
In our Public Space issue, we meet Mia Birk of Portland and Fred Kent of NYC, both of whom have shaped and revitalized public space in their respective cities. We learn about Los Angeles bike culture and explore the usual sampling of arts, culture and gear.
