Changing Lanes

„Home is where I want to be (...) never for money, always for love”

Janette Sadik-Khan, Zohran Mamdani and David Byrne in one film? It must be New York, and quite recently at that. All three are working towards a single, very worthy cause – they want better conditions for pedestrians and cyclists in Brooklyn, and, of course, across the whole city as well. An accident on McGuinness Boulevard, in which a local schoolteacher riding a bicycle is killed, sparks a wave of protests against the marginalisation of spaces for rest and recreation in the city. It also launches a campaign to improve the safety of planned cycle paths and pedestrian routes, driven not only by social momentum but, above all, by scientific data.

Ben Wolf’s film documents the emotionally charged process – rich in human stories – of changing the infrastructure and the way of thinking about how to look after the health of New York’s residents. It also provides concrete examples of how cars have taken over transport routes that originally belonged to pedestrians. Wolf skilfully avoids the extremes we tend to fall into when, today, we seek to restore a balance in the use of streets by diverse road users. At the same time, he confirms that high-level politics and the interests of the most privileged can undermine the grassroots power of those who are most committed and who love their immediate neighbourhood. Spoiler: in this case, the balance tips in favour of those who are ‘weaker’ within the system. And we are given concrete arguments and tools to build a narrative of change that is possible, as confirmed by facts and analyses.

We are presenting this screening in collaboration with the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Bike Days International Cycling Film Festival.