The city makes me a bird

The freedom I feel when getting out of the train in Slussen. After a life in the forest-concrete known as Fisksätra. The winds I feel when stepping off the bus in Shinjuku. After a month

The freedom I feel when getting out of the train in Slussen.

After a life in the forest-concrete known as Fisksätra.

The winds I feel when stepping off the bus in Shinjuku.

After a month in the Japanese mountains.

Of course I love both Fisksätra and the mountains, but nothing makes me fly like the city.

Up to the karaoke towers, down to the weirdest taverns.

Streets in every direction, people, jobs, feelings, events, love. Throwing a D20 dice for your day instead of a D6+1.

I love Stockholm central station where everyone feels welcome. You can have a burqa, a mohawk, a suit; you are just another human, more so than in any party or in any neighbourhood. 

This has led me to Yimby (Yes In My BackYard), a network fighting for more real, dense quarters in Stockholm and other cities. Suburbs are of course the right choice for many people, but when they are packed with people who’d rather live in the central and dense parts if they could just afford it, then we need more central and dense parts! It’s also great for the environment to live together, so it’s a win-win.

Cars per household. Dense and poor wins. So let’s get … dense.

One guy I got to know in Yimby is Oscar Freyre, a wild genius working on all kinds of projects. Perhaps most known for Österbron, a bridge from Nacka to the central parts of the city. In one sketch, my old commuter line is drawn over the bridge towards the university. If I had that 20 years ago, I’d save half an hour a day.

I just read his book “Vodka & Hubba Bubba” (a “typical” Swedish breakfast) and it’s about him coming to the weird country of Sweden, from Peru. It was very fun! Especially as in having partied in Cusco and Miraflores myself 🙂 I even went by bus through Chaclacayo. And great that he lived for a while in Fisksätra, this ochre-bricked gate towards Stockholm for people from Västerås, Peru, Finland, Turkey, Eritrea, Wherever.

Oscar, please print a new edition. One where you have removed 90% of the exclamation marks, and with pictures drawn by yourself! Mix the colors a bit, make them weaker, less detailed.

And have a great exhibition with pictures of the ghost house in La Punta, the cheap apartment at Jiron Ica, the family parties in Chaclacayo, the feelings from Fisksätra etc. With images in great quality inside the books that visitors can buy 🙂

I got this painting, as this is what the city makes me feel like: a bird flying in every dimension. Keep on flying all of you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *