European Cities and Sustainable Urban Planning Practices

Garrett Hall

This summer, during the month of May, I traveled through western Europe to study sustainable urban planning practices. The trip was organized by the Office of International Affairs and the Knowlton School of Architecture, and involved comparing and contrasting the urban planning practices of Copenhagen, Berlin and Barcelona with each other, and with our observations of US cities.

My experiences on this trip have certainly helped grow myself, as a person, and have also given me things to think about and work on as I continue to pursue my goals. While I assumed that working while traveling would be just as easy and much more enjoyable than working from a home city, one of the first things I found out on this trip is that working while traveling is difficult. I’ll be the first to admit, I can be quite easily distracted by my impulses, and traveling added a whole new dimension to that. Being in a foreign city, with all sorts of sights to see and culture to experience tested my resolve quite thoroughly. The lessons I learned, such as working while in transit and trying to spread out the work into moderately long bursts, were important though, especially if I find myself in a job that enables me to travel and work remotely. While I assumed I would find it difficult to seek out interactions with locals, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and enjoyable it was.  Through several interactions, in all of the countries I visited, I found that interacting with people of different cultures, even through language barriers, went from being intimidating to exciting.

There are several interactions in particular that stand apart when I reflect on my trip. The first occurred in Berlin: while visiting one of my group’s case studies, I started talking with one of the people who were relaxing in the park. He told me he was a political refugee from The Gambia who had been living in Europe for several years at this point. It was fascinating to hear about his experience crossing the Mediterranean and working his way up through southern Europe. Later that day, I was able to pause and reflect upon just how surreal that had been for me. I’ve been following the news stories that have covered the migrant crisis in Europe for some time now, but they take on a whole new significance when the stories come from a primary source. Hearing his experiences and trying to understand his perspective was certainly one of the more rewarding interactions I had during my trip.

During my stay in Weimar, Germany, I had a series of interactions that tested my language skills quite thoroughly. I have taken several years worth of Spanish classes in high school, and before this trip, started learning some basic German and Italian with the app DuoLingo. While in Weimar, our professor had met up with a colleague of his from the University of Weimar, both of who spoke Spanish with one another. Thanks to my Spanish language skills, I was able to understand the conversation, and even contribute once or twice. When I split off from the main group to eat lunch, we ended up at an Italian cafe, where I was able to successfully order my meal in Italian. While that interaction went rather smoothly, my attempt at conversing with our server at dinner in German was noticeably poorer. Despite my best efforts, I was lost during most of the conversation, which eventually reverted to English. Despite what may be considered a failure, I consider that last conversation the most valuable because it helped decrease the intimidation of conversing in a language of which I know very little.

As far as working while traveling is concerned, I learned a great deal. I’ve long been a fan of several blogs run by people who travel full time and make money on the road, often by running their own business, though I never realized how hard it is to balance the work with the play. Not only is it hard to find the discipline to work after just arriving in a new city, but it is also hard to put down the computer and go enjoy the location when there is still work that could be done. This was quite a rude awakening for me, who envisioned this as an idyllic sort of lifestyle. Once the shock of that revelation had subsided, I was able to learn several useful tricks. I began to take advantage of travel time for either work or sleep, and to define a certain amount of time I would spend on work on a given day. This enabled me to stop worrying about when the work was going to get done, and enjoy the new experiences around me. I also learned that if I were to do an extended international trip again, it is helpful to move more slowly: spending more time at each destination. This would have enabled me to settle into some kind of routine, as well as have relaxation days where I didn’t feel guilty that I wasn’t out exploring a new place.

Before I embarked on this trip, one of my goals was to someday live and work in the EU. I can wholeheartedly say that this experience has reinforced my resolve to make that happen. Factors that were initially intimidating, such as navigating socially through language barriers and adjusting to different cultural norms, became things I looked forward to as learning experiences. I found so many things to love about western Europe on this trip: spectacular food, ubiquitous public parks and recreation spaces, reliable public transport, and well-developed bike infrastructure all contribute to a quality of life that seems very much worth living. Combine that with the incredible history and ease of travel between countries and cultures, the mere thought of living there full time inspires me. I am incredibly grateful for the knowledge this trip has enabled me to acquire, and I doubt I will ever forget the memories I made here.

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