Page 24 - TLU magazine - The Way to The Top

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TALLINN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE / NO. 14 / SPRING 2020
PUBLICTRANSPORT:
more than just a means to get
from point A to point B
In spring 2019, a major project led by Tallinn University Centre for Landscape and Culture research fellow Tauri Tuvike was launched, in which researchers from four countries study public transportation as public space. Here, the point of view of a regular transport planner is replaced by that of a humanities researcher.
Indeed, public transport does not sound like a topic of the humanities. Rather it raises ques- tions on the frequency of departures, network coverage and speed of connections, which are all matters on the desk of transport planner.
The innovation in this project is the study of the user experience from an ethnographic aspect, looking at verbal and nonverbal encounters in public transport. Additionally, to tackle differ- ent topics on history, from literary criticism to critical transport geography and urban studies.
Public control
Public transportation has its place in literature, cultural history, planning and the undertakings of activists. Writers take the characters of their books onboard public transportation, where
it becomes the image of a meeting place or an age of modernisation and metropolis. At the same time, some transport means seem to be exceptionally striking for writers, activists and planners. For example, the tram tracks carry an urban emotion. But public transportation is also a place for public control. Ticket control is often more than just the inspection of tickets. As is visible in Brussels, it is also a means for controlling migration.
In autumn, two doctoral students from Tallinn University joined the project and post-doctoral fellows started working at partner universities. Doctoral student Louise Sträuli provided Tallinn University with language skills and other skills necessary for field work and artist Aleksandra Iachenko provided skills for art-based field work.
For nearly a year, we have conducted observa- tions on trams and buses, interviewed planners and organised experiments. For example, Alek- sandra staged an experiment, where each “ac- tor” brought with them a detail from home (a chair, a mirror or a carpet) onboard a tram and different atmospheres were created with these elements. Students from the Estonian Academy of Arts carried out the performance.
The experiment indicated that the tram is rather an environment where you need something significant and potentially disturbing to other pas- sengers in order to stand out. Even people sitting down on a carpet reading books did not receive attention. At the same time, it cannot be eliminat- ed that emotions were carried on after the event.
From history to the future
In addition to Tallinn University as the leading partner, the project involves Åbo Akademi from Turu, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig and Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).
The researchers from different countries study pub- lic transportation as a public space from its physical openness to its historical and future narratives that are carried by planners, activists and regular users.
For example, the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography studies the cities in which infor- mal transport was relevant until recently. This means that there is more conversation in the public space between the passengers, and the importance of the bus driver in designing the material and social space is also greater than on regular buses and trams.