This past May, I had the incredible opportunity to study abroad for three weeks in several of the most innovative, culturally rich, and environmentally friendly cities in the world. My trip, European Cities and Sustainable Urban Planning Practices, took thirteen of us on an unforgettable border-traversing adventure through Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Spain. Through our visits to Copenhagen, Malmö, Berlin, Weimar, Potsdam, and Barcelona, we gained a holistic understanding of the theory and practice of these concepts while taking the time to critically analyze many of these innovative places.
With the primary focus of the trip being on the most progressive urban planning and design principles currently being implemented, we were able to see firsthand many of the “green” and out-of-the-box projects I had been learning about in my classes, which was especially fascinating since I am a City and Regional Planning major. This was a key opportunity for me to apply what I already knew while expanding on this to learn what cannot simply be taught in classes.
Prior to this trip, my understanding of both city planning and European culture was limited to classroom lectures and fuzzy memories from a family vacation to the United Kingdom ten years ago. It is one thing to see pictures and learn about concepts, designs, and sites in class and to recall upon my memories of what it is like to be immersed in a foreign culture. It is another to actually live, breathe, and experience these concepts and sites while also growing as a citizen of a the world and broadening my mind thanks to diverse foreign cultures.
After going on this amazing adventure, I now have a firm grasp on how many of these city planning innovations have been able to be so successful in their respective cities and countries in addition to having a more open mind after being immersed in so many different cultures. No longer do I go about my days with the same monotony and lack of global awareness. Now I have a new spark ignited inside me to help try to fix the detrimental social and urban problems afflicting American society that European cities I visited have been able to help alleviate. Even going beyond that, I want to provide a more people-centric, human oriented design approach to the States that is found so ubiquitously in the countries I visited. Going beyond my academic goals and societal ambitions, I am a truly better person because of this trip. My experiences have shaped me into a new American; I am even more tolerant, more independent, and more forward-thinking than I was before.
This transformation was caused by several key influencing factors along my train-traveling, bike-bustling, subway-speeding, and airplane-adventuring extravaganza. First is the use of public transportation, since this forced me to be quick-thinking, independently responsible, and boldly social in order to figure out the many complex and entirely different transit systems in each of the cities visited. Due to the large scale and widespread nature of these cities, we used public transportation as our lifeline to connect and travel throughout the cities, so it was more of a requirement than an option to learn them like the back of our hand within a day or two’s time. It took breaking language barriers, asking strangers for advice, carefully studying maps, and becoming directionally oriented to truly start to master them, but by doing so I gained so much more than a simple tram ride across Berlin or a Metro excursion under Copenhagen. I pushed myself in situations and places that would have previously been uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and broadened my understanding of not only foreign city planning and transit infrastructure, but of the ways I am able to confidently traverse an unknown environment, applicable to any future new situation, place, or person I must face.
Going beyond the learning curve of initially-intimidating bike lanes and multi-colored subway lines, this trip also taught me the importance of putting myself out there in a new environment to learn, understand, and thrive from it. For example, in every city we went to I would take some small cross-city trips on my own to help fully immerse myself in the native culture. Typically, I would randomly explore around neighborhoods that appeared interesting until finding an appealing café or coffee shop. I remember in Berlin, especially, where finding an English-speaking restaurant is not always that easy, I would put myself out of my comfort zone to order unpronounceable food, communicate with people who speak other languages, and place myself in the middle of a culture totally different from the one I was used to back home. And the end result? A plethora of incredible memories, personal growth and cultural awareness, and far too many delicious cappuccinos and croissants to count.
Furthermore, the opportunities and abilities to observe and analyze some of the cities’ most innovative public spaces, architectural sites, and green infrastructure opened my eyes to the ways city planning is truly applied to better peoples’ lives rather than some of the detrimental applications historically here in the States. I became inspired by the ways Copenhagen streets are pedestrianized to give priority to people in the city rather than to carbon-emitting, traffic causing cars. I admired the ways Berlin’s tree-canopied streets transport me to another world, making me forget I’m in a bustling cosmopolitan city. I appreciated the preservation of historic, significant structures and architectural sites in Barcelona that evoke magical, fairytale-esque aesthetics. By having assignments that required full immersion and critical analysis within these sites with everything from photography to note-taking to sketching, a full grasp of the overall success of these urban planning developments could be realized, helping me also learn how to better understand and analyze urban space for the rest of my academia and future career.
These developments matter to me both professionally and personally, since now I have better grasp for urban planning as a whole, especially in a more relevant context that transcends lecture hall presentations as well as a personal growth from being in four foreign countries for an extended period of time. I know better ways to apply creative thinking and problem solving to help develop more sustainable and people-oriented cities while also grasping what it truly means to be a citizen of the world. My visions, dreams, and ambitions cannot be withheld within a singular city, state, or country. They are much large and are destined to affect so many more people, helping to create worldwide ripples to positively impact people and create better quality of life. Because of this trip, I realize that I am destined to forever strive to make positive social and urban change—I am destined to transcend national borders, I am invigorated to cross language barriers, and I am determined to break cultural stigmas that separate us. Because of this trip, I realize that despite the many differences that try to divide us as humankind, there are in fact far more similarities that unite us together, and I will not stop until I have been able to stitch together as many of these connections as possible.
