Who are you?

I am a person.

How do you identify?

I identify as a person.

How do you want to/prefer to be seen?

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Could you tell me why you live in a city?

Because someone brought me here as a child and I never left. I'm serious…

Lisbon [is a city] I want to live in. Half of my family lives in England, so I might live there for maybe a couple years and then Lisbon for a bit.

Have you been to Lisbon before?

Yeah, I [have]. I like it.

Oh, it's like an M.C. Escher drawing to me.

Really? It's so pretty. It's so cheap.

So many hills.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You'll get fit. The food, the rent. The food.

The food was incredible.

The weather, some really good food. So good. I think there was a restaurant where I ate out all their. They had the snails. Oh, so good. Oh, their gizzards. So delicious. They make such. Their food is kind of like…I like that it's Portuguese mixed with the European food because you get the oily African part and then you get, like, the fancy European. I love Portugal.

Can you tell me about a memorable urban experience you have had?

Well, I moved here when I was 12, so I've been here the whole time. I mean, it's really nice. I think living in New York City is just such a weird, interesting place where I'm living right now, though. Okay, so that is memorable. The view of the sun and the moon is so incredibly stunning. And it's actually blowing my mind that you can see the sunrise and the moonrise from Park Slope. And I did not know this. I didn't know the moon literally rose over a building from that direction and that the sun sets over [there]. I guess you knew, like, when you live in downtown Brooklyn you never really think about, like, how the planets move around you and what the stars look like because, you know, the tall buildings, you don't see it. It's really nice being at the top of a hill with little buildings and you can kind of, like, see the world around you again. Like, I get people who live in the country now if you get to, like, see the stars over time, it's nice.

Like, when did you first notice the sun rising?

So this apartment, I lived in the ground floor in my last apartment in this neighborhood and they were building a bunch of buildings around, and I just was desperate for somewhere, like, brighter. I really lucked out with this place. It's literally at the equinox, like, the sun rises and I can see to my bedroom, and then when it's setting, I can see it from my living room. And then the moon will rise, and it's huge, and it's yellow, I swear to you. And this, like, the sky, it's so pretty. And then when the moon is set in, I can also see it from my couch. And also, the moon moves around a lot. Sometimes it'll rise from there, and then sometimes it'll rise from there. I didn't know this. And I feel like. I feel like, you know, when you're in a flight and then there's no map, and then the flight attendants have gone over the route and you weren't paying attention. I feel like I'm just kind of reorienting myself to the planet. Like, wait, I don't know if I really actually know much about how we Orbit how we move around the planet. Like, where the moon is, that we're orbiting the sun. And then I'm seeing the sun rise, and it's like it's. You just. I don't know, it feels like you're a traveler being aware of your ship and you're just trying to orient yourself to understand how it functions.

Oh, yeah, I know what you mean. I had a thought. I mean, I knew this, but I didn't really think about it until this week. That up or down are totally arbitrary.

Yes. So, like, from my neighborhood, when a plane is going up and it's so crazy to see them turn of the curvature. Like, there's so much I didn't understand about east, west, or just the geographics of how we move around in the solar system that I didn't know. I didn't know this until I started to observe it where I lived. And it was like, oh, well, I'm an idiot.

Oh, no, it's not like you're an idiot.

Like, I did not know this at all. Yeah.

It's not something I really think about, living in a city, because you don't really see [it]. Like, you don't really look up.

Yeah. A lot of the time, I'm tellin [you].

You, you can't see the stars.

I gotta show you photos. They're so pretty. The stars. The stars are not the greatest over there because it's still light, but the moon and the sun and [its] just... It's so stunning. Look at this. Look at the sunset.

That's from your apartment?

No, that's from Greenwood Cemetery near my apartment. Wait, let me find a photo of the one in my apartment. No, you can't see the sun from here, but look at the sky in the neighborhood. Like, honestly, it is such a weird place that if you're obsessed with the sky and you like to kind of, like, daydream, I think it's the best place, honestly, to live, to finish your research, because you're just kind of stuck in your head and you're not really good at socializing because everyone wants to know what you're doing. And you don't really still have the language and the grasping, but to conceptualize it, it's still an abstract idea in your head. And to live in a place where you're kind of like, in the sky, it allows you to daydream little bit more and like be optimistic because you can see like giant clouds and like. Okay, I can, I can sit in my ivory tower for like a bit while I finish my research. It was nice.

How supportive do you feel the city is to your needs?

The cost of living is too high. That guy was right. The rent is too damn high.

Yeah. What happened to that guy?

He complained enough about the rent and killed him. I have no idea. I don't know. He was right though. The rent is due. High.

Yeah, the rent is [too damn high]. That's one of the reasons why I want to go to Portugal. It's like a cheaper cost of living. It's really expensive to live in New York and it's like, it's only so much better.

And are there any other needs that you think the city should be supportive of outside of the cost?

More public spaces, more parks, more third spaces, like benches in public car-free zones. Bike-only roads. I don't know, free lunches for kids. Why not?

I mean all of those things are very [important]. They exist in other cities that we don't really have them in US cities.

Yeah. That really offends me because I deserve what they have. Yeah. I'm serious. I completely deserve it. Like I'm alive. They're alive. Like why can't we have high speed rail or like, just bike only roads. I mean it's so fascinating because like we're all just living a car free existence from before. So I guess it's going to take us a while to get there. It's just like, why can I be young when that happens? Like when we get to the car free society. I'm going to be upset that I miss out on it. Like, fuck them kids. They're going to experience shit I'm not going to experience. Fuck them. They'll have free healthcare. Fuck you. I want free healthcare while I'm alive.

Yeah, it would be nice.

Everyone is always saying that, like, “don't worry the people in the future…” I don't fucking know those people. They're not me. Why can't I have what they'll get in the future today, while I'm alive?

Yes.

Like it's terrible how other people in other parts of the world have good food. I would love if New York City had like the outdoor nightlife food of like other cities like Bangkok, Mexico, where there's like street stand food, like little restaurants like that. It'd be nice.

Yeah, that would. Yes, that. Yeah. I have experienced that.

That would be so nice.

It also creates a nice community space.

Yep. Their place to hang out.

Do you feel included in the city (as a person of value)?

No, I'm poor, so I mean that's real. I'm sorry.

You don't have to apologize.

It's not a real apology. I'm like, who the fuck am I to anyone?

What would make the city more convenient for you?

Oh, I feel like cities should compete for their citizens’ attention by trying to be like, you should be excited to live here by building shit. I feel like citizens are like, you should be so lucky to be here. And it's like, no, you should be thankful I'm fucking here. I'm paying the taxes. They should look around at other cities even like a girl trying to keep a man or a man trying to keep a woman. And you're like, guess what, we just built you so you guys are happy, you're paying your taxes. We've built you these little outdoor area. So they should create proposals for their citizen. They're like, what do you want us to do to make you happier as a citizen the next year? Instead, it feels like we're in the trenches arguing with someone about why we deserve, I don't know, a roof over our head. And they're like, oh, yeah, you know, in other cities they kill you. I'm like, okay, but like, what I gotta do with me? Like, it's like, well, you should be grateful you're alive. Abusers, terrible people.

Yeah, it's like gaslighting.

 Yes. It's like, you should compete for my attention. You should compete for my money. You should make [policies that are] responsive to its citizens. Because it's not a fucking real place. It's all of us in with each other, electing people who then act only in a bunch of other people's interest, which I get it, but I don't care about those people. I just want us to agree on a fair understanding of goods and services and quality of life that will make us all happy. And then shut the fuck up and pay for it.

And how do you think, how do you like if you could run that process? Okay, like, how would you do it if you like, so that we can all come with this consensus to create a place that's it's affordable for everyone.

That's a good question. How would I run a city if I could? Well, it would have to apply to everyone's best interest, which is their finances. Right. Being able to afford what they want. But everyone wants a different quality of life and a different someone who wants to live on the ground floor is different from someone who wants to live on a third floor. Like we each have our own unique interests of what motivates us but what's underlying. It's just being able to afford the neighborhoods where our friends and family are. I think if people are more self-sorted into the neighborhoods of friends and family and they get first dibs then you can create community-based neighborhoods where they are now able to create what's in their best interest of how they want their neighborhood to function. I think we should return a lot of role back to neighborhoods but set boundaries so that you know, the racist idiots don't get create or the NIMBYs don't get to do so.

The city creates a framework of when the population of the city gets too big, we're going to build these new neighborhoods. Those are the rules of living in our city. We don't ask for your permission before we build anything. But within your neighborhood your community board can determine how you want these things to operate. But here's the framework of someone from this neighborhood needing this need would also have to have a met here. Like you each have a basic quality of living up standard of third places, bike lanes, coffee shops, affordable restaurants and things like that because that's what quality of life revolves around. And then you can build individually to specifically tailor to your needs. Community leaders would be the ones curating their needs. Then they would elect a representative and it's rather than having one person, it's always going to be balanced against everyone's financial interest of like how do we make sure the money that your neighborhood creates stays there but not through taxes? I'm not sure yet. But it would be really fascinating to see how you could do something like that. I don't think that it's impossible to do. I think it's just a lack of imagination have we even thought about what it would be like if we actually built community-based neighborhoods in which the city then takes its role and moves from because the city should be responsible? Like the government itself should be responding to the needs of the citizens as they build them and the needs should be complementary to each other and those people then elect the representatives. And I don't think we've experienced that yet. We've just had random megalomaniacs who want to tell us what to do. But I have faith it's just going to be disappointing that I'm not going to experience that, and that really Sucks, right?

Maybe you'll find the city outside of here.

I think so. I think we probably need a ton more research to understand how to like redistribute communication and resources where we set a base limit like so all the money goes into one pot. And everyone gets the same quality of schools, of basic infrastructure. So it's not like your neighborhood determines your school [through] taxes and all that stuff. There's basic funding for the base, basic necessities of quality of life, which is utilities, common goods, common spaces and education. And then from that everyone can play around what works for th[em].

Well, it's kind of the same thing as this exchange that I've been designed that I did spend a few years on it really. I needed to understand what the different stakeholders in the transaction exchange individually would want. And I think that's the point of focusing on your own interests and knowing where you don't compromise. There's a theory called mechanism design, and it's reverse game theory. And the whole point is that like you want to reverse how the game is played, but there's a revelation principle where everyone has to feel like they're acting in their best interest. And it's really hard to know what's in someone's interest but you. I think the easiest way is just for you to be honest with your own interest of like what I want I good schools, I want a third place. I want all these places. And I'm going to assume you want the same thing too, because you want the same quality of life that provides for you. So if I can focus on my own interests, then I can create a compromise for you by offering you those same interests. Because I'm assuming we share the positive values of our interest. And then I think once you understand that, then you can build from there. You don't know what the output of the mechanism is. What you just want to know is what each players are willing to give up and what would them act in their best interest. And then whatever you build from there is just whatever the end product is. But you don't know that until you've put the interests together and you figure out how to make them overlap and work with each other.

Okay, yeah, that makes sense.

It's a really, really cool theory. I think the guy won the Nobel prize for [that] like 20 years ago. It's still relatively new, but it's been really kind of fun playing with that in Theory of just, like. It's maybe not a me problem, but it's a mechanism design problem because, like, at the end of the day, I'm the person producing the labor, producing the value, producing the money. And if the mechanism is not working for me, it's literally not my problem because it's a utility, then it's the utilities design. So how do I reengineer the mechanism so I can be happy? Because I'm the only person that's human in the equation here? Did I go too long on your questions?

No, not at all. There's. There's no such thing.

Who is part of your community?

My friends and family. Yeah.

What else should we know about how you feel about cities?

I don’t think so.