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?
Milagros Hurtig.
2. Which 4CITIES cohort were you a part of?
Cohort 12 (2019-2021).
3. Where and when were you born?
Argentina, Buenos Aires.
4. Where did you grow up?
Argentina, Buenos Aires.
5. What did you study before 4CITIES?
Architecture.
6. Why did you join 4CITIES?
Deepen my knowledge in urban issues and curiosity for traveling.
7. What is your fondest memory from 4CITIES?
So many! The first day of class, a tour around Brussels campus, it was raining.
8. What was the most important thing you learned from 4CITIES?
Diversity and difference.
9. What (if anything) have you studied since 4CITIES?
Participatory city-making.
10. Where do you live now?
Germany, Berlin.
11. Where else would you like to live?
Enough moving for the moment!
12. Which city have you never visited but would most like to?
Guadalajara, Mexico.
13. Where is your favorite non-urban place to be?
Cordoba, La Cumbre in Argentina.
14. What kind of work are you currently doing?
PhD in participatory placemaking.
15. What other work have you done since graduating?
Urban and community engagement specialist.
16. What job would you most like to attempt?
Arts.
17. What urban-related job does not exist but should?
Relational Methods creators/designers.
18. What about cities do you enjoy the most?
The cities I enjoy the most are those that allow me to walk freely, alone and without fear. They are compact cities, with cultural offerings and good public spaces. Cities where you can have a cheap meal, and that give you the possibility to move around by bike while enjoying the trips from one point to another.
19. What about cities do you enjoy the least?
The cities I like the least are those where the urban spaces are not sized to the human body. Those cities with big walls that separate you from what is on the other side and from the possibility of interacting with others. I also don’t like when cities are designed under discourses of security and technology. These are experiences that are dissociated from the warmth of exchange and empathy.
20. What about cities do you find most interesting?
The cities that I find most interesting are those that have been able to install a model of governance for the commons. The cities that in recent years have invested in public transportation, community programs, gender-sensitive design, public space, among other things.
21. What about cities do you think is over-emphasized or over-hyped?
Increasingly, central areas in big cities are getting more and more over-hyped… In different ways, but I see it in Berlin and Buenos Aires, as well as in Barcelona, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, etc. I don’t think that the city as a whole can be considered over/hyped, there are certainly other parts (away from the spotlight) where the local remains. I think this is a bad disease, products of a free-market model, that can and should be counterbalanced with planning and consistent policies.
22. What about cities do you think is under-appreciated?
I think that under-appreciated cities are cities that will be appreciated by someone else. I think we have to discourage the process of scaling or judging with the same yardstick because that adheres to this global market where cities compete to be the most appreciated. However, what is evaluated is always representative of some and not of others. We could start from the basis that all cities have elements to appreciate, and from there, continue building.
23. Why do you think urban studies is important?
Because understanding urban complexity, will make us more aware about how to sort and address current global/local challenges (like social/economic inequalities).
24. What is one myth about cities that you would like to bust?
That what happens in cities in the Global North is not related to the imbalances you can find in cities in the Global South.
25. If you could time travel, what city and year would you visit?
Berlin, 1989.
26. What is your favorite imaginary city (from books, movies, etc.)?
Feminist city.
27. What would you like real cities to learn or take from this imaginary city?
Other ways of relating between each other, more empathetic and sensitive.
28. What books, authors, or films would you recommend to someone who wants to better understand “the urban”?
El Nido Urbano (2015).
29. What changes would make cities more livable?
Less capitalism.
30. What are the most important changes cities must make in response to the sustainability crisis?
More communication between sectors, between organizations, between cities, between regions.
31. If you could change one thing about your city, what would it be?
Fewer imbalances between urban areas.
32. What question have I not asked that you would like to ask other 4CITIES alumni?
Depends on who you’re asking 🙂
You can find Milagros on Instagram and LinkedIn.
