According to Vanity Fair, “the Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.” Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, we have put together a set of 32 questions designed to reveal the true nature of 4CITIES alumni. Or to at least give us some insight into what they are up to and what makes them, as students of “the urban”, tick.
1. What is your name?
Anna.
2. Which 4CITIES cohort were you a part of?
Cohort 09 (2016-2018).
3. Where and when were you born?
Vienna, 1989.
4. Where did you grow up?
Vienna.
5. What did you study before 4CITIES?
Business law.
6. Why did you join 4CITIES?
Curiosity for the right to public space and its growing importance in times of climate change.
7. What is your fondest memory from 4CITIES?
The people.
8. What was the most important thing you learned from 4CITIES?
Bring a raincoat.
9. What (if anything) have you studied since 4CITIES?
Smart buildings in smart cities.
10. Where do you live now?
Madrid.
11. Where else would you like to live?
Vienna.
12. Which city have you never visited but would most like to?
Cartagena, Colombia.
13. Where is your favorite non-urban place to be?
My grandma’s village.
14. What kind of work are you currently doing?
Open source solutions for smart cities.
15. What other work have you done since graduating?
Supporting SME in using digital solutions.
16. What job would you most like to attempt?
Supporting owners/renters in decarbonising their building stock.
17. What urban-related job does not exist but should?
“Roof finder” for people who live without. Purpose-archiver assistants.
18. What about cities do you enjoy the most?
Finding (out) something new all the time.
19. What about cities do you enjoy the least?
Precarious living conditions for some.
20. What about cities do you find most interesting?
How they work (or don’t).
21. What about cities do you think is over-emphasized or over-hyped?
Specialty coffee places.
22. What about cities do you think is under-appreciated?
Public transport.
23. Why do you think urban studies is important?
Offering a diversity of topics and angles, a way of escaping usual silos of academia.
24. What is one myth about cities that you would like to bust?
That there is no space for production in terms of industrial companies.
25. If you could time travel, what city and year would you visit?
Red Vienna.
26. What is your favorite imaginary city (from books, movies, etc.)?
Silvercity (Never-ending Story)
27. What would you like real cities to learn or take from this imaginary city?
Change is a matter of being able to imagining it.
28. What books, authors, or films would you recommend to someone who wants to better understand “the urban”?
The Lonely City.
29. What changes would make cities more livable?
Trees, no motorised individual vehicles, night train connections to major cities within a 1500km radius.
30. What are the most important changes cities must make in response to the sustainability crisis?
Change of mindset (30k to insulate the apartment and decarbonise is too much, the same amount for a car is okay) and incentives.
31. If you could change one thing about your city, what would it be?
Higher frequency of cercanias especially at night, metro all night.
32. What question have I not asked that you would like to ask other 4CITIES alumni?
How do we turn it all into action?
You can find Anna on LinkedIn.
