Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Project Freudenstadt, does it have legs?

Before you can answer my title question, you must learn a little bit about the project. Project Freudenstadt explores in documentary form the differences between American and European informal social culture. It asks the question, does America's urban form inhibit the casual gathering and interaction that seem to be more present in European society? Does it have something to do with European urban form, perhaps those suspiciously inviting town centers and pedestrianized streets where lots of people live and hang out? On the flip side, is there a reason that urban life in America seems incredibly isolating, where social interactions have to be arranged by exhausting mobile device back and forth? I've heard from some of my European friends that they are expected to go out with their friends every Saturday night unless they are somehow incapacitated. I've never experienced this culture at home, but perhaps Americans from other walks of life have. Furthermore, it seems I have to make quite extraordinary efforts to meet new people here--a saga which some friends have corroborated--and I wonder if it's not quite so hard overseas. I don't have any answers or any assumptions at this point. But I do feel like something is wrong in every American urban neighborhood I've lived in, and I wonder if it's just me or is there really a different world elsewhere? I doubt that urban form could be the sole contributor, but it would be interesting to see if urban form in Europe has helped foster a more casual social environment, or if something else potentially has.

What if I picked up a film crew and some qualified movie makers somewhere and wandered around this country and that continent to talk to people and see what they think, and to see what we observe? Would anyone be interested in watching a movie about that?

A curious traveler gazes across the town center of Freudenstadt.


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